Two plain clothes Newark police officers fatally shot Rashaan Gilbert who was allegedly armed with a gun early this morning in the South Ward, authorities said.
Rashaan Gilbert shot by police
Gilbert, 33, of Hillside was shot by the two officers around 12:30 a.m. on Mapes Avenue, after he allegedly approached them with a fully-loaded revolver and refused to drop the weapon, reports NJ.com.
The 33-year-old was shot six times and died a short time later at University Hospital, said Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. Both officers reportedly fired a total of seven bullets.
Officers involved in Rashaan Gilbert shooting
Authorities have not named the two officers who fired their weapons, but said they are gang unit detectives who conducted a surveillance operation in the area that night.
They were sitting in their unmarked vehicle on the 100 block of Mapes Avenue between Bergen Street and Osborne Terrace when Gilbert allegedly approached with a gun in his hand, said Detective Hubert Henderson, a Newark police spokesman.
The officers exited their vehicle and confronted him. “Reportedly, the suspect failed to comply with the officers’ repeated demands that he drop the weapon,” Henderson said.
Newark City Councilman Ras Baraka called that section of the South Ward “very volatile,” adding, “there have been constant shootings and fighting throughout the summer.”
A frequent critic of the police and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Baraka said Gilbert “was wrong” for confronting the officers with a gun, but added, “the way they police that area, we have to have a different kind of approach…There needs to be a comprehensive approach to how we deal with crime.”
Other murders
Gilbert’s death is the third police-related shooting in several weeks, and the second fatality.
On June 30, Muraad Mallard, 28, was shot by plainclothes officer after he allegedly brandishing a plastic gun. Mallard, who was expected to recover from his injuries, had been allegedly fleeing authorities following a suspected drug transaction, police said.
A week before that, a Newark police officer shot and killed Jahad Phillips, 19, while he was being pursued as a robbery suspect. Phillips was shot after he charged toward a police cruiser with his gun drawn, police said.
Source: NJ.COM
