Melja T. Oliver was 37 when he was shot and killed in the early morning of June 3, 2022. Police found him on the sidewalk in the 500 block of Main Street in East Orange at about 12:51 a.m.; he was taken to University Hospital in Newark and pronounced dead at 1:31 a.m. The shooting happened outside a ShopRite supermarket.

Investigators from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force and the East Orange Police Department identified a suspect within days. On June 8, a 35-year-old man from neighboring Orange was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and weapons offenses. Detectives reported no evidence the suspect and Oliver knew each other before the confrontation; the suspect allegedly produced a handgun and shot Oliver in the head while confronting him on the side of the building.

Oliver’s family remembered him as a father, uncle, and brother. If anyone witnessed the shooting or has information about what led to the confrontation that night, please come forward.