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2 charged with murder in Maple Shade shooting that killed a woman and injured her boyfriend

Authorities said Semaj Pittman, 21, of Willingboro, shot Kayla Winkler, 22, and injured her boyfriend during a robbery. A male teenager, who was a juvenile at the time, was also charged with murder.

File photo of police tape.
File photo of police tape.Read moreDavid Maialetti / Staff Photographer

Two people have been charged with murder in a shooting inside a Maple Shade apartment building last year that killed a 22-year-old woman and injured her boyfriend, authorities said Wednesday.

Semaj Pittman, 21, of Willingboro, and an Evesham Township teenager, whose name was not released because he was a juvenile at the time, went to the Arbors apartment complex on the 200 block of South Lenola Road to rob Kayla Winkler and her boyfriend, Ramek Bass, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office said.

Winkler, who sold marijuana and LSD from her apartment, and Bass knew Pittman, who was involved in a street gang and made a deal with the couple to sell the drugs, according to the affidavit of probable cause for Pittman’s arrest.

On Feb. 23, 2020, Pittman and the juvenile went to Winkler’s apartment planning to rob her of marijuana, the affidavit says. After they were let inside, Pittman pulled out a gun and fired one shot while Bass was standing in front of Winkler, then grabbed a bag of marijuana that Bass was holding, the affidavit says.

Police responding to a call about the shooting found Winkler and Bass suffering from gunshot wounds. Winkler, 22, who was shot in the chest, was pronounced dead at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where Bass, 24, of Philadelphia, was treated for a gunshot wound to his shoulder.

Pittman, who has been in the Burlington County Jail on unrelated charges, was charged Wednesday with murder, robbery, and gun offenses. The teenager, who is charged with murder and robbery, is being detained in Middlesex County, the Prosecutor’s Office said. It was not known if they have attorneys.