Sequoya Bacon-Jones was killed during a shooting in a N.J. courtyard in March 2022

Sequoya Bacon Jones

equoya Bacon Jones.Credit : Ledford Funeral Home Inc.

 

A New Jersey man has admitted to fatally shooting a 9-year-old who, authorities say, was running for safety as the suspect opened fire.

The victim, Sequoya Bacon-Jones, was killed in the Trenton, N.J., incident in March 2022, NJ.com reported, and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office directed PEOPLE to that report when contacted for details.

Nearly two years later, on Thursday, April 16, Isiah Roberts pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter in a plea agreement, the prosecutor’s office tells PEOPLE.

On March 25, 2022, Roberts was working with his cousin when his mother and sister allegedly texted and called him about 40 times, asking him to head to the apartment complex where the shooting would later occur, prosecutors said, per NJ.com.

His sister had reportedly gotten into a physical altercation with another woman over a Facebook feud, per prosecutors. When Roberts arrived at the scene, he was given the name of a “family nemesis” and grabbed a gun from the residence.

He came out to the courtyard where the other man was and shot at him, which led everyone to run for safety; Sequoya, who prosecutors say was not his intended target, was shot as she scrambled for cover with her brother.

She died after being taken to the hospital, per NJ.com.

Sequoya’s mother, Shea Bacon-Jones, who was also in court during Roberts’ plea hearing, said in 2022 of the little girl: “She was a bright 9-year-old, and she came into the world fighting, and she left this world fighting,” NJ.com reported.

A STEM student who wanted to grow up to be a police officer, Sequoya “brought so much light and life to everybody that came into contact with her,” Shea told CBS News at the time.

“It’s impossible to not remember her,” she said. “It’s a tragedy if you didn’t get to meet my daughter.”

Isiah M. Roberts

Isiah M. Roberts.Mercer County Correction Center

Roberts’ sentencing is scheduled for June, and as part of the plea bargain, he will spend 18 years in state prison, the prosecutor’s office tells PEOPLE.