A late Sunday night shooting on Fairview Avenue in Jersey City left 34-year-old Dushawn Bell dead. Bell, who lived in Elizabeth, New Jersey, was found with apparent gunshot wounds shortly after 11:20 p.m. on December 8, 2024. Officers transported him to Jersey City Medical Center; he was pronounced dead about 3:40 a.m. on December 9, 2024. The Regional Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the cause of death as multiple gunshot wounds and classified the death as a homicide.

Investigators learned that Bell had posted a birthday message for his daughter on social media in the hours before the shooting. The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit and the Jersey City Police Department led the investigation and identified a suspect. On January 29, 2025, law enforcement located and arrested 26-year-old Zafarri Francis in Ocala, Florida; he was charged with murder, weapons offenses, and receiving stolen property and was being held in Marion County pending extradition to New Jersey.

If anyone has information about Bell, his movements that night, or the events on Fairview Avenue, please come forward.