Two teens charged for killing Manapalan man for a quarter pound of weed

Charlie Dwyer

PENNINGTON, NJ – Two teenagers have been charged for killing a Manalapan man and taking his weed, police announced.

In a joint statement today, Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri and Hopewell Police Chief James Rosso announced the arrest of two teenage males in connection with Philip Urban’s fatal shooting last week.

A 16-year-old from Pennington, NJ, and a 17-year-old from Hopewell, have been taken into custody at the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office this afternoon. Both defendants will be held in the Middlesex County Youth Detention Center pending detention hearings. They are charged with murder, felony murder, robbery and weapons offenses.

Investigations conducted by the Hopewell Township Police Department and the Mercer County Homicide Task Force resulted in the charges.


Hopewell police responded to the Hopewell Valley Nature Preserve off of Harbourton-Woodsville Road at approximately 7 p.m. last Saturday.

When officers arrived, they found a man inside a white Mercedes C300 slumped over on a trail.  Philip Urban, 20, of Manalapan, was transported to Capital Health Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead from a gunshot wound a short time later. 

Urban was robbed of a quarter-pound of marijuana for $800 by the juveniles, according to the investigation. As part of the preparation, murder, and cover-up, both defendants are alleged to have participated in the murder. The juveniles lured Urban to the gravel entrance to the nature preserve, where he was robbed of the marijuana, shot, and killed.

The case will be reviewed by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office in order to determine if a waiver to adult court is necessary since the defendants are juveniles.

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