On April 12, 2023, at about 1:45 a.m., police responded to reports of a shooting along the 2100 block of McCarter Highway in Newark and found 27-year-old Frensly Bouquet, a Black male from Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, suffering a fatal gunshot wound. Bouquet, a truck driver who had been parked on the side of the road, was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 4:00 a.m.

The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force opened the investigation, working with the Newark Department of Public Safety. For several weeks the case produced few publicly disclosed leads, and authorities asked the public for information. In May 2023 a multi-agency operation targeting individuals with outstanding felony warrants resulted in 43 arrests; among those taken into custody was 27-year-old Lavon Ford of Newark, who was charged with Bouquet’s murder. The motive and detailed circumstances of the shooting have not been released.

Did anyone in the Newark area hear or see anything that night, or does anyone have information that could help clarify what happened to Frensly Bouquet?