Ralph Harris, 39, was fatally shot on the 100-block of Brookdale Avenue in Newark on Friday evening, September 8, 2023. Newark police arrived about 6:43 p.m. and found Harris outside with gunshot wounds; he was taken to University Hospital and pronounced dead at 8:31 p.m. that same evening. The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force is leading the investigation.

Born July 6, 1984, in Orange, New Jersey, Ralph Everett Harris grew up there and later moved to Newark, where he graduated from West Side High School. Family and friends remembered his love of motorcycles and cars, his pride in being a father, and his outgoing, humorous, loving nature. No arrests had been announced in the immediate aftermath and authorities asked the public for information.

If anyone has information about what happened on Brookdale Avenue that evening, please come forward to assist the investigation.