On the afternoon of April 11, 2017, 28-year-old Michael Eargle of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was shot and killed near the intersection of Lafayette Street and Madison Avenue, a few blocks from the city’s police headquarters. Patrol units found Eargle in the 1800 block of Lafayette Street with multiple gunshot wounds; he was pronounced dead at the scene just before 5 p.m.

Eargle was a well-known local figure, a 2007 graduate and former football standout at Elizabeth High School who went on to attend Purdue University on a scholarship. He worked for the Elizabeth Housing Authority and was a father to a young son, with another child expected at the time of his death.

The Union County Homicide Task Force, Elizabeth Police Department, Union County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Unit, and Union County Police Department Ballistics Unit investigated. They identified 20-year-old Quazir Reddick of Edison as a suspect; after a multi-state search he was located and arrested in Memphis, Tennessee, and taken into custody for extradition to New Jersey on murder and weapons charges.

If anyone knew Michael, saw him that afternoon, or has information about the shooting, please come forward.