Brielle Alston, a 31-year-old Black woman from Newark, was fatally shot late on the night of Sunday, July 28, 2024, near the intersection of 4th Avenue and North 12th Street. Newark police were called to the area at about 11:23 p.m. for reports of gunfire and found her suffering from gunshot wounds in the street. She was rushed by emergency responders to University Hospital, where doctors worked through the night but ultimately pronounced her dead at 1:20 a.m. in the early minutes of July 29.
In the hours that followed, the scene around 4th Avenue and North 12th Street became the center of a homicide investigation. Detectives from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Task Force joined Newark police at the intersection, documenting the area and gathering physical evidence while canvassing for witnesses who might have seen or heard the attack. Authorities publicly identified Alston as the victim the next day and confirmed that the case was being treated as a homicide. They appealed to the public for information, directing potential witnesses to the prosecutor’s tip line as they pieced together the final moments before the shooting and tried to understand what had drawn her to that corner late on a Sunday night.
Just over a week later, investigators announced a major development. Detectives arrested 28-year-old Tyheed Harris, described by authorities as Alston’s first cousin, after what was characterized as a brief search. Prosecutors allege that Harris gunned her down and then fled the scene, leaving family members to grapple with the devastating realization that the suspect in her killing was a close relative. He was charged with murder and other related offenses, and county records listed him as the accused shooter in the case. While some reports indicated that investigators were exploring whether Harris might have been under the influence of an unknown substance at the time of the shooting, officials did not confirm any such detail, and no clear motive has been publicly established. The prosecutor’s office has stated that the Homicide Task Force, working with Newark detectives, continues to investigate the circumstances and motive behind the killing.
In the midst of the legal proceedings, Alston’s loved ones turned their attention to honoring her life. Funeral services were announced for Cotton’s Funeral Home in Newark, where family and friends gathered to say goodbye. Online memorial pages and gun-violence remembrance sites shared her name and photograph, with dozens of candles lit in her memory and messages from people describing their grief and the shock of losing her so suddenly. Even as those closest to her tried to find some measure of closure through mourning rituals and tributes, the case remained marked by unanswered questions about why such a violent act occurred within the same family, leaving investigators and the community still seeking a fuller understanding of what led to the night she was killed.
