On the morning of May 13, 2016, 37-year-old Michael Gaffney of Piscataway died after an off-duty Newark police officer, Joseph Macchia, fired multiple shots outside Paddy’s Place on Rosemont Avenue in Union. Gaffney, a construction worker, was unarmed. According to accounts, the two men fought twice that night; the first scuffle was broken up, but a second altercation preceded the shooting. Macchia was treated at a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and the Union County Prosecutor’s Office opened an immediate investigation.

The investigation led to Macchia’s arrest and a grand jury indictment on reckless manslaughter. In June 2018 a jury convicted him of reckless manslaughter and he was later sentenced to state prison for the shooting. Was anyone at Paddy’s Place that night willing to come forward with more details about how the encounters began and escalated?