ELIZABETH, NJ — A grand jury has determined the shooting of a 23-year-old Newark man by a retired Newark police officer in 2017 was justified, refusing to file charges for the incident, according to a July 25 press release from the Union County Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the incident, which occurred on Sept. 20, 2017, at approximately 5 a.m. at a 24-hour car wash on Edgar Road in Elizabeth, was an attempted carjacking. Police arrived to find 23-year-old Krishad Jones, of Newark, with multiple gunshot wounds along with a retired Newark police officer, whom the UCPO did not identify.
The Union County Prosecutor’s Office’s Shooting Response Team determined that when the retired officer went to retrieve a towel at the car wash, turning his back to his vehicle, a co-defendant of Jones, Dequelle Nelson, entered the vehicle in an attempt to steal it.
As the retired officer confronted Nelson, Jones approached the retired officer from behind and forcefully struck him in the back of the head twice, prompting a brief physical altercation that ended with the retired officer firing his handgun at Jones.
Nelson fled the scene in another nearby vehicle, leaving Jones behind. Emergency medical personnel transported Jones to University Hospital in Newark, and he was later charged with first-degree carjacking and second-degree robbery.
The investigation also revealed that a portion of the incident was captured on video surveillance footage from a business in the area.
Jones contested the victim’s claim of self-defense prior to the case being heard by the grand jury. Two of the five gunshot wounds that struck Jones were in the back.
However, video evidence confirmed that the retired officer had been punched by Jones from behind. Jones had claimed that his contact with the officer immediately before the officer fired his weapon constituted a “tap on the shoulder.”
On March 22, a Union County grand jury heard testimony and evidence from the SRT’s investigation into the shooting and found the retired officer’s use of force was justified, the release said. The grand jury declined to file any charges against the retired officer, it added.
As for Jones and Nelson, the charges against them are merely accusations; all persons are considered innocent unless found guilty in a court of law.
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