Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced today a suspect wanted for questioning in connection with the fatal shooting of a corrections officer died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound today.
Allen Barron, 21, was wanted for questioning in connection with the murder of Katrina Owens, a 37-year-old corrections officer from the Monmouth Junction section of South Brunswick. Barron’s last known address was in Pemberton but he also lived in Rahway.
When Barron encountered officers from the Richmond Police and the U.S. Marshals Service, it appears he took his life outside the Greyhound Bus Terminal in Richmond, Va.
The preliminary investigation indicated Owens was attending a barbeque in the Newark/East Orange area when a dispute occurred. After an initial encounter that night, Barron took Owens’ truck. He then came to the Columbia Avenue area in Newark and it appears shot and killed her and then fled the state. The location of the barbeque has not been determined yet.
Owens was married and the mother of three children. She became a corrections officer in 2003. At the time of her death she was employed at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton.
For more information about the events in Richmond, Va., contact the Richmond Police Department Public Information Office at 804-646-0607.
No other details are available at this time. The investigation remains active and ongoing.
