By: Richard L. Smith
The NJ Attorney General’s Office are now involved in a deadly shooting incident in which a Newark Officer fatally shot an alleged gunman in the South Ward Wednesday night.
According to the preliminary investigation, AG Platkin said at approximately 8:34 p.m., police responded to a 9-1-1 call that individuals had been shot inside a residence on Johnson Avenue in Newark.
When police entered the residence, they found one man deceased from a gunshot wound and 8-year-old Zahmire Lopez, who had been struck by gunfire.
Lopez suffered a bullet wound to his chest.
He was transported to University Hospital, where doctors pronounced him deceased at 9:14 p.m.
Police encountered an adult male with a firearm running away from the residence where the two individuals had been shot.
Several police officers from the Newark Police Department engaged in a foot pursuit, two officers fired their weapons during the encounter and the male was fatally wounded.
The identities of the decedent and the officers are not being released at this time.
A 2019 law, P.L. 2019, c. 1, requires the Attorney General’s Office to conduct investigations of a person’s death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody.
It requires that all such investigations be presented to a grand jury to determine if the evidence supports the return of an indictment against the officer or officers involved.