Rodney Phelps, 39, was fatally shot on Van Houten Street in Paterson, New Jersey, on the night of February 4, 2022. Officers found him in the roadway at about 11:20 p.m.; medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene. The slaying was the city’s fourth homicide that year. Phelps lived in Washington Township in Warren County.

Police quickly identified a suspect and arrested 33-year-old Jaquan Housey at his 12th Avenue apartment a few days later. Housey was charged with murder and weapons offenses. His prior record listed convictions for drug and weapons offenses and a separate conviction for repeatedly molesting a 10-year-old girl, which placed him as a Tier 2 Megan’s Law offender; he had been released from a seven-year prison term in October 2019.

Does anyone have information about Phelps, the shooting, or what led up to that night?