Tyreek McCord, 26, was shot multiple times outside an IHOP on Route 440 in Jersey City in the early morning hours of November 21, 2015. Friends transported him to Jersey City Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. McCord had been released from prison a month earlier and had prior convictions for aggravated assault, theft and receiving stolen property. On the morning of the shooting he had been eating inside the restaurant with a small group and there were no apparent signs of trouble before he walked into the parking lot where the attack occurred.

Accounts of what happened diverge. An attorney for a man later indicted on weapons charges says video shows McCord pointing a gun at that man and others, and that one of the men then shot McCord. McCord’s mother, Annie McCord, has publicly questioned that version and suggested her son may have been set up. Aaron Lofton was indicted on multiple weapons offenses, though his attorney said Lofton was not the shooter. The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office has not publicly identified the alleged shooter and the weapon used was not recovered.