On a warm June night in 2016, 45-year-old Ronald Gwaltney stepped into the first-floor hallway of his apartment building on the 300 block of South 7th Street in Newark’s West Ward. Sometime before midnight there was a burst of gunfire; Gwaltney was found in the hallway with multiple gunshot wounds and was taken to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 11:46 p.m.

Officers also located a second man near the scene who had been shot; he survived and was hospitalized in serious but stable condition. The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and Newark police treated the killing as a homicide and the scene was processed while detectives canvassed the building and nearby homes for witnesses. Early statements said motive was unclear and there were no immediate arrests or public identification of a suspect.

Online memorials describe Gwaltney as a self-employed, happy-go-lucky handyman nicknamed Woody and note his death occurred on June 24, 2016; listings of unsolved homicides updated through 2025 still seek information. Does anyone who lived in that building or the neighborhood that night remember hearing or seeing anything that could help the investigation?