Arrest in Fatal Taj Mahal Carjacking

Final suspect arrested in carjacking and slaying at Atlantic City casino parking garage
By LYNDA COHEN and JOEL LANDAU Staff Writers
pressofAtlanticCity.com

ATLANTIC CITY — All three suspects in Sunday’s deadly carjacking from a casino parking garage are now jailed on $1 million cash bail each.

Raheem Simmons, 18, was arrested by members of the New York and New Jersey Federal Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force before 4 p.m. Friday outside an apartment complex in Camden.

“This is what happens when people cooperate,” Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel said shortly after the last man was taken into custody.

Simmons was staying at an apartment on South Eighth Street in Camden that was not his own when he was apprehended, Housel said at a press conference at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. Housel did not say whose apartment it was.

Simmons is expected to appear in court Monday to hear the charges against him — felony murder, murder, carjacking, kidnapping, theft, robbery and weapons offenses.

Simmons, Eric Darden, 20, and Phillip Byrd, 20, all of Camden, are accused of forcing a Middlesex County couple to drive at gunpoint from the parking garage before 8 a.m. Sunday to an alley off the 500 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where they were shot.

Sunil Rattu, 28, of Old Bridge, was killed with two gunshots to the head. His girlfriend, Radha Ghetia, 24, of Parlin, was shot in the upper body and has since been released from the hospital.

The prosecutor said the investigation is ongoing. Housel declined to comment on whether any physical evidence recovered at the scene of the crime links any of the suspects. He added he does not believe the weapon used in the crime has been recovered.

As the case progressed, Housel introduced new information in near-daily press conferences, including showing video footage Monday of three “persons of interest” as they came up a stairwell from the Taj Mahal. The next day, murder warrants were issued for the three Camden men, after witnesses came forward to say they had been seen staking out other casino garages earlier in the day.

“They thought other garages were easier targets,” Housel said.

During the press conference Housel reiterated the importance of people coming forward to help authorities solve crimes.

“If you give us information … we will find those persons and bring them to justice,” he said. “If you want justice you have to come forward.”

Byrd was arrested Tuesday night at his home in Camden.

On Thursday, Darden went to his attorney’s Haddon Heights office, where he surrendered to police. But he was without lawyer Ron Helmer on Friday when he made his first appearance in court, telling Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury: “For the time being, I’m going to be represented by a public defender.”

A call to Helmer was not returned.

Officials say the quick arrests are proof crimes can be solved when everyone works together.

“It’s a great combination of technology, excellent police work, public cooperation and not letting geographical boundaries get in the way of us going after the bad guys,” Tourism District Commander Tom Gilbert said.

He and Atlantic City Deputy Police Chiefs Ernest Jubilee and Henry White have been insistent that boundaries set by Gov. Chris Christie’s Tourism District do not affect how the town is policed.

The three men are believed to be members of the Fruit Town Brim Bloods, according to a flier distributed among law enforcement.

Simmons has no prior adult record. He turned 18 two months ago.

The Prosecutor’s Office worked with several agencies — including the U.S. Marshalls, FBI, Camden City and Atlantic City police departments, New Jersey State Police, corrections officers and the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office — during the investigation.

“There is a feeling of pride in all the great work all the agencies did,” Housel said.