In the early morning hours of June 9, 2022, the life of 31-year-old Daquasha Jackson, a Black female from Irvington, New Jersey, was tragically cut short in what authorities have described as an apparent murder-suicide. Irvington police officers were dispatched to a residence on Adams Street for a welfare check. Upon entering the home, they made a grim discovery.
Inside, they found Ms. Jackson and a man identified as Dane Lawrence, both suffering from gunshot wounds.
Neither was responsive, and both were pronounced dead at the scene at 3:53 a.m. The preliminary investigation led by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force indicated that the incident was likely a murder-suicide. It is believed that Lawrence shot Jackson before turning the weapon on himself.
The tragedy was compounded by the fact that Ms. Jackson was a mother to two young children, Zion and Nova. Fortunately, an infant was found unharmed inside the residence at the time of the discovery. In the wake of her death, a GoFundMe page was established to provide support for her children, who were left without their mother in the wake of this horrific event. The investigation into the deaths of Daquasha Jackson and Dane Lawrence remains ongoing, though with the primary suspect deceased, no arrests have been made.
