Regional Police Give Details On Bensalem Motel Murder and Trenton Swat Call Out
by Alex Lloyd Gross
Bensalem Police held a press conference earlier today along with authorities from the Trenton Police Department and Pennsylvania State Police. They released more information on the murder at the Sleep Inn Motel yesterday, on Street Road.
Someone entered the Pennsylvania State Police Barracks about 5:00 AM and told them they were in contact with a male identified as Orenthia Upshur ,of Trenton NJ allegedly told him that she shot his girlfriend, Maisha Coon, 48, from Trenton New Jersey. The killing took place in a Bensalem Motel but he was unsure of which one.
That started a huge search of all of the local motels on the Route 1 corridor, until Bensalem Police checked the Sleep Inn, and found Coons signed the registry. She was in room 317. When police arrived, she was already dead, they said.
While this was happening, Upshur was in Trenton New Jersey allegedly firing gunshots near Parkside and Oak Lane. Police arrived and saw Upshur run into a house on Oak Lane. He was intending on killing a female related to Coons, police said. Upshur pointed his weapon at police and refused to surrender. A SWAT team entered the house and took him into custody. They also recovered a gun that police said was used to murder Coons.
Upshur enters the motel room with a gun. Security camera footage. Bensalem Police.
Police said that Upshur and Coons were in a relationship and they were in a heated argument prior to the shooting. Inside the Sleep Inn, police recovered three rounds allegedly fired by Upshur. One of them went through the floor and into a downstairs motel room. No one else was hit by gunfire, police said.
Bensalem Director of Public Safety Bill McVey said that police did not get any 911 calls about gunshots from inside the motel. Upshur will be charged by New Jersey Authorities as well as in Bucks County. There is no extradition planned for him until that happens, which police said can take several days.
McVey said that Coons just came into Bensalem randomly, “As do many people each day who get a room inside the a motel.