Camden sees its third fatal shooting victim in June after a homicide-free summer in 2025
Camden County Police responded to reports of a person shot on the 300 block of Morse Street around 10:20 p.m. on Thursday.
A 50-year-old Camden man is dead after being shot on the city’s east side Thursday night, law enforcement said.
Police responded to reports of a person shot on the 300 block of Morse Street around 10:20 p.m., according to a joint statement from the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office and Camden County police.
Officers found Cornelius Smith, 50, lying in the street with a bullet wound. The Camden resident was transported to Cooper University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 10:46 p.m., officials said.
No arrests have been made. The investigation into the killing is continuing, police said.
Smith’s killing was the third fatal shooting in Camden this month.
Around 12:20 a.m. on June 9, police responded to a report of a shooting in the 200 block of Morse Street and found Luis J. Bonet, 24, of Camden wounded by gunfire. He was pronounced dead at Cooper University Hospital a short while later.
The following day, Eric Irizarry, 45, was charged in connection with Bonet’s death with first-degree murder, second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, and second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.
A week earlier, a fatal shooting in Camden, police said, was tied to a multi-vehicle crash in neighboring Pennsauken.
While responding to a shooting on the 3300 block of Westfield Avenue on June 2, police discovered multiple shell casings and an unoccupied vehicle that had been struck by gunfire, officials said.
A few minutes later, Pennsauken police responded to a crash involving five vehicles at Drexel Avenue and Route 130 in Pennsauken. One of the vehicles involved in the crash had been struck by gunfire and the driver, later identified as Izaiah Minzy, 36, of Westville, had been shot.
Minzy was taken to Cooper University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m.
Six people in the other cars involved in the crash sustained minor injuries.
The prosecutor’s office has not announced any arrests in the case.
The violent June comes after Camden experienced a record year in 2025 with its lowest recorded homicide total in four decades and its first homicide-free summer, police said, in 50 years.
Camden recorded 12 homicides last year, down from 17 in 2024, and saw an overall 6% drop in violent crime compared with the previous year, including a 32% decrease in sexual assaults and a 12% decrease in robberies, according to police.
The decline came more than a decade after the city’s police department was disbanded in 2013. Since then, the department’s successor, the Camden County Police Department, has taken a new approach to community policing that includes pairing social workers with officers and supporting programs designed to help at-risk youth.
Homicides have dropped by 82% since 2012, the last full year of the former police structure. During that time, the city has also invested heavily in public spaces and infrastructure, including $100 million for parks and street repaving.
Earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) visited the department’s headquarters alongside Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen and Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. to get a firsthand look at some of the advanced tools and training methods police have utilized in recent years.
Booker is promoting federal legislation designed to help other law enforcement agencies adopt similar technology, like automated license plate readers, live cameras, drones, and more, which Camden County Police Chief Gabriel Rodriguez has said contributed to the reduction in crime across the city.
Officials asked that anyone with information about any of the recent shootings contact the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit or the Camden County Police Department. You can also submit anonymous tips online.