Murder Charges Levied in 'Vicious' Seaside Park Beating

Two 19-year-old Paterson residents are facing murder charges for what prosecutors are calling the "vicious" beating death of a 26-year-old man in a Seaside Park parking lot on May 28.

Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford announced Monday that charges against David S. Armfield, Jr. and Marquis McRae, both 19, of Paterson, have been upgraded to murder after Kamau Keita, of Trenton, died at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, over the weekend. Armfield and McRae were already being held in the Ocean County Jail on aggravated assault charges related to the alleged beating.

Details of the incident are still being determined by police, but Ford said in a statement that undercover police officers from the Seaside Park police department were patrolling the area of Farragut Avenue and Municipal Lot 1, located on the northern end of Seaside Park near the boardwalk, at approximately 4 a.m. on May 28  when they observed a physical altercation involving Armfield and McRae, as well as Keita. Keita was on the ground and unconscious when police arrived, the statement said. Armfield and McRae were apprehended soon after.

"We allege that these defendants [Armfield and McRae] participated in a vicious beating of Mr. Keita, that they kicked and stomped him while he was defenseless and helpless, and that ultimately they caused his death,” Ford said.

An autopsy will be performed on Keita on Monday to determine the specific cause of death, the statement said.

Armfield and McRae both remain lodged in the Ocean County Jail. Superior Court Judge Stephanie M. Wauters set bail for both men at $500,000 cash on the murder charges.

Investigators with the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office and Seaside Park Police Department are still looking into the case. Anyone with information about the incident has been asked to contact Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Detective Brian Haggerty at 732-929-2027 or Detective Matthew Brady of the Seaside Park Police Department at 732-793-8000.