Newark, NJ – A promising teenager was gunned down in Newark this past weekend.
Reginald Terry, 18, was shot and killed early Saturday morning at the intersection of Washington and Market streets.
A memorial now stands where he was killed. People who knew him say he deserves the tribute. They say he was an honors student, a star football player and someone who was raised to be a good person.
Terry graduated from University High School in June and was a student at New Jersey City University studying computer science with a passion for football. While attending accelerated classes at University High, he played football at Central High School. His coaches described him as a gifted student, an award-winning athlete and a mentor. His parents told NJ.com that their son dreamed of playing for Montclair State University next year as a walk on.
Reginald Terry was a good kid, who always stood away from trouble. Quoted on a recruiting website, the teenager said
“But the thing that motivates me the most is me trying to get out of Newark. The years that I have been in Newark were somewhat horrible because of all the killings that happen and what my peers do around me. Some do drugs, drink, and do not go to school,” Terry wrote on a college sports recruiting website.
“But me, I choose not to follow what happens in the society around me.”
But Terry’s promise was cut short Saturday morning when he walked out of a party. Police say a group from the party in downtown Newark got into an argument with patrons from a nearby bar, and someone pulled a gun.
Terry and his friends took off.
As he ran, however, Terry was hit in the back of the neck by a bullet that law enforcement sources said wasn’t meant for him. Terry was called an “innocent bystander” by the sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, said investigators are looking into the possibility that Terry was not the shooter’s intended target.
Terry’s death was one of two slayings in Newark on Saturday. Newark has recorded 100 homicides this year, the most since 2007.
