In the early hours of February 10, 2021, gunfire was reported in a Paterson, New Jersey neighborhood near Dover and Oak streets. Initial checks turned up no obvious scene, but a wider search located 41-year-old Nasreen Yahsi near Oak and Martin streets with multiple gunshot wounds. Yahsi, a Hawthorne resident, was taken to Saint Joseph’s University Medical Center in critical condition and died there on February 11, 2021. Her death was ruled a homicide.

Detectives from the Paterson Police Department and the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office investigated for months. In September 2021 authorities arrested 23-year-old Rashawn Pelham of Paterson; he was already in the Passaic County Jail on unrelated charges when taken into custody and was charged with murder and weapons offenses. The motive for the shooting has not been disclosed.

If anyone has information about Nasreen Yahsi or the events around Oak and Martin streets that morning, please come forward.