On the evening of July 19, 2026, 28-year-old Brian Dominick Lockett was shot and killed during a confrontation in North Arlington, New Jersey. The shooting occurred about 8:37 p.m. near the intersection of Ridge Road and the Belleville Turnpike. Responding officers found Lockett and his 29-year-old cousin Ezequiel Aquino with gunshot wounds; both were taken to University Hospital in Newark and pronounced dead.

A man reportedly exited a rented van and opened fire, then fled in the van while another man left in his own vehicle. The children at the scene were not physically harmed.

Investigators later recovered both vehicles and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and North Arlington Police Department arrested four people in connection with the double homicide. Leibys A. Mercedes, 26, is identified as the alleged shooter; he and his brother Lydell M. Mercedes, 24, were charged with two counts of murder and weapons offenses. Altray K. Brown, 33, and Yolanda K. Montgomery, 30, were charged with endangering an injured victim and endangering the welfare of a child for fleeing the scene with two young children who were not properly secured in car seats.

If anyone witnessed the shooting or has information about the custody exchange that preceded it, please come forward.