On the evening of June 25, 2017, around 8:49 p.m. on Edwin Place in Newark, New Jersey, 39-year-old Rayshawn Ross was shot and killed during a violent encounter. A second man was also shot and survived after being taken to a hospital; Ross was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators from the Newark Police Department and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force identified a suspect, 27-year-old Alquan B. Council of Newark, and issued a warrant charging him with murder, attempted murder, and weapons offenses. Council fled the state but was arrested in Syracuse, New York, on July 7, 2017, after cooperation between witnesses and law enforcement.

In April 2018 Council, then 28, pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter for Ross’s killing, second-degree aggravated assault for the surviving victim, and unlawful possession of a weapon; prosecutors said he fired an illegally possessed shotgun multiple times at a gathered group. Does anyone have information about Ross’s life in Newark or memories of that night that could add context to the case?