Akram Rasool Brown, a 42-year-old Black man and local business owner, was shot dead on May 19, 2021, on Mt. Vernon Place in Newark’s West Ward. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:02 PM. Reports say Brown was shielding a two-year-old child from a spray of bullets when he was struck.

The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force and Newark Police detectives investigated the killing. On June 24, 2021, authorities arrested 19-year-old Deautay M. Haines of Jersey City; he was charged with murder, weapons possession, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and held at the Essex County Correctional Facility. The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is handling the case with assistance from the Jersey City Police Department.

Did anyone in the West Ward area that night see or hear anything that could help fill in the timeline?