Eric Uggie Bowens was a familiar presence in Newark, known for dancing on street corners and at parties with a radio in hand. He turned 44 on November 7, 2016; that night at about 10:40 p.m. on the 200 block of Bergen Street gunshots were heard and officers found Bowens suffering from a gunshot wound in front of a residence. He was taken to University Hospital and pronounced dead at 11:15 p.m.

Friends and neighbors remembered Bowens as a joyful, trouble-avoiding figure and the Newark Fire Department publicly mourned his loss. Investigators and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office sought information from the public and offered a tip reward, initially $10,000 and later increased to $20,000, but no suspects or arrests were announced in the immediate aftermath.

Was anyone on Bergen Street that night or does anyone have information about who might have been responsible?