A man ‘executed’ his girlfriend in a Bensalem hotel, targeted her family, and then shot at police who came to investigate, DA says
Orenthia Upshur fled to Trenton after killing Maisha Coon inside a room at the Sleep Inn in Bensalem, police said. He then waged an armed standoff with officers who came to arrest him.
A Trenton man killed his girlfriend during an argument inside a Bensalem hotel early Wednesday, police said, and hours later targeted one of her family members, firing at her as she got into an Uber in the capital city.
Orenthia Upshur, 51, then barged into an apartment on Oak Lane in Trenton about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday and shot at police officers who came to investigate the violence they say he waged in two states, police said Thursday.
He remained in custody Thursday in Trenton, where he has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, burglary, and related crimes in connection with the standoff with police. He will be charged with murder when he is extradited to Bucks County in the coming days, according to investigators.
Upshur fled to Trenton after shooting Maisha Coon, his longtime girlfriend, inside the Sleep Inn & Suites on Street Road in Bensalem in what Bucks County District Attorney Jenn Schorn described as a execution and an “unimaginable death.”
“Furthermore, he intended to harm Miss Coon even beyond the grave when he conveyed his murderous intentions to harm and take the lives of her family members in New Jersey,” Schorn said. “We will get justice for Miss Coon and her family members.”
Schorn said that Upshur shot Coon, 49, as she lay on the floor, and that the shot that killed her passed through into the hotel room below them. The occupants of that room were not injured.
The motive for the shooting remained unclear Thursday, but officials said the couple had a history of domestic disputes, including as recently as a few days before the fatal shooting.
The investigation into Upshur began about 5 a.m. Wednesday, when one of his relatives reported to Pennsylvania State Police that Upshur had visited him and confessed to killing his girlfriend, according to Bensalem Township Public Safety Director William McVey.
Upshur told his relative he had killed Coon in a hotel in Bensalem, but did not specify which one, McVey said. The man said he had been on a phone call with Coon hours earlier in which he heard her say to Upshur: “I didn’t think you would harm me. Please don’t do this to me.”
Using data from Coon’s cell phone, police were able to track her to a room at the Sleep Inn, according to McVey. She had been shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The couple had arrived at the hotel the night before, about 9 p.m., and Upshur was seen leaving the area shortly before 1 a.m., carrying a handgun, McVey said.
While investigators were searching for Coon in Bensalem, Trenton police received information about a shooting on Parkside Avenue about 4:30 a.m., according to Capt. Lisette Rios.
One of Coon’s relatives, whom police did not identify, said that Upshur had pulled up to the area in a gray pickup truck and fired at her three times as she got into an Uber, Rios said. Neither the woman nor the Uber driver was injured.
Shortly after that shooting, Trenton police received a call about an armed man who had forced his way into a nearby apartment and shot at residents inside.
When police arrived at that scene, Upshur began firing at them from a second-floor window, according to Rios. He was later taken into custody by members of the Mercer County Sheriff’s Tactical Unit. Upshur was carrying a Glock handgun at the time, which investigators say they believe was the weapon he used to kill Coon.