A Newark man has admitted to being responsible for a fatal shooting that took place in Roselle a little more than two years ago, acting Union County Prosecutor Jennifer Davenport announced Tuesday.
According to a statement released by The Union County Prosecutor's Office, during a Monday court hearing before state Superior Court Judge Lisa Miralles Walsh, 28-year-old Nathaniel Price pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree aggravated manslaughter and two related second-degree weapons offenses in connection with the death of 21-year-old Tyquan Johnson.
Officials say shortly after 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, January 21, 2017, Roselle Police Department patrol units responding to the 1000 block of Rivington Street found Johnson sitting in the driver’s seat of a vehicle, having sustained multiple gunshot wounds, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Armando Suarez, who is prosecuting the case. Johnson was rushed to University Hospital in Newark, where he was pronounced dead later the same day, Suarez said.
An investigation led by the Union County Homicide Task Force and assisted by the Roselle Police Department, Union County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Unit, and Union County Police Department Ballistics Unit revealed that the shooting followed a prolonged and heated argument and physical altercation involving more than half a dozen individuals, sparked by a post made on social media that Price believed insulted a relative of his officials said.
The investigation quickly resulted in Price being identified as a suspect, and he turned himself into police three days after the shooting. A search of the home outside of which the argument and physical altercation took place produced the handgun used in the shooting, and Price’s DNA was found on multiple parts of the weapon.
Sentencing in the case has been scheduled for Friday, June 14th before Judge Walsh, at which time the State intends to recommend a sentence of 24 years in state prison, with 85 percent of that term to be served before the possibility of parole under New Jersey’s No Early Release Act.