On the evening of March 31, 2020, 25-year-old Damone Smith was shot in the vicinity of Cator Avenue and Rose Avenue in Jersey City, New Jersey. Reports of gunfire prompted a police response; Smith was driven by a private vehicle to Jersey City Medical Center with gunshot wounds to his upper body and was pronounced dead in the early hours of April 1, 2020. The cause of death was a gunshot wound and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.

Investigators identified the killing as tied to ongoing gang conflict. Police say Smith was a high-ranking member of a street gang linked to the Rutgers Avenue area and that the shooting was retaliatory. Authorities arrested 23-year-old Phillip Wiggins in Newark on April 22, 2020; he was charged with murder, unlawful weapons possession and related counts and was reportedly wanted on a Fugitive from Justice warrant from Texas. The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit and Jersey City Police Department led the investigation.

If anyone knew Damone Smith, his activities in the Rutgers Avenue area, or has information about the shooting, please come forward.