Police searching for N.J. man they say killed a bystander during a fight in Kensington

Police are searching for a New Jersey man they say shot and killed a bystander during a fight that broke out in Kensington late last month.

Jacquan Williams, 31, of Gibbstown, Gloucester County, is being sought in the fatal shooting of KellyAnne Kane early in the morning on Aug. 26, police said. Williams and another person got into a fight on Kensington Avenue when a third person, whom police did not identify, tried to intervene, according to police.

When Williams fired at the person who tried to break up the fight, police said, he shot Kane, 41, in the arm. The injury was severe, and she was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital later that morning.

Police initially said Kane had tried to break up the fight, but on Friday they said that was not the case and described her as an unintended target.

Shortly after midnight Aug. 26, police responded to the 2500 block of Kensington Avenue for a report of a shooting. When officers arrived, they found Kane with a gunshot wound to her right arm, police said.

Surveillance footage reviewed by investigators showed a group of people gathered on that block, as two men got into a physical altercation, police said. Kane did not know the shooter or the group he was with, her brother Mark LaVelle said, but she knew the other man involved in the fight.

Kane was shot in the cross fire at close range, police said.

Kane, a Kensington native, was fiercely loyal, altruistic, and resilient, her brother said. In 2020, Kane’s oldest son, Jonathan Salas-Kane, was shot and killed when police say he was committing a home-invasion robbery. Months later, Kane’s boyfriend, Matthew Suarez, the father of her younger son, died by suicide at Jonathan’s grave, her brother said.

In addition to her brother Mark, Kane is survived by two other siblings and her 15-year-old son Matthew.

Williams, her assailant, is considered armed and dangerous, police said.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call homicide detectives at 215-686-3334. Tips can also be submitted anonymously by calling or texting the department’s tip line at 215-686-8477.