In the early, quiet hours of a Sunday morning in Newark, the sound of gunshots shattered the peace on Stuyvesant Avenue. It was around 1:30 a.m. on December 12, 2021, when police received reports of gunfire. Arriving at the scene, officers made a grim discovery outside near the intersection of Rockland Terrace, where they found a man suffering from gunshot wounds.
The victim was identified as Cornell Daniels, a 44-year-old male from the nearby township of Irvington.
Emergency services transported him to University Hospital in Newark in a desperate attempt to save his life. Despite their efforts, he was pronounced dead at 2:01 a.m., a little more than half an hour after the initial shots were reported. The incident prompted an immediate and intensive investigation into his killing.
The Essex County Prosecutor's Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force, in collaboration with detectives from the Newark Police Department, took charge of the case. They canvassed the area for evidence and sought information from the public to piece together the events that led to the fatal shooting. In the days following the incident, authorities announced that the investigation was active and ongoing, but no arrests had been made. There was no information immediately released about a potential suspect or suspects or what might have precipitated the deadly encounter on the Newark street.
