Azeem Seawright — a 40-year-old Black man — was walking in New Brunswick in the small hours of November 1, 2021 when he was struck by gunfire near Easton Avenue and Condict Street. Witness accounts and local reports say the shooting happened after the victim left to get a late-night snack; officers found Seawright with a gunshot wound and he was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Those who knew him remembered a larger-than-life presence: he was described in his obituary and by friends as a gentle, talented man with a wide range of skills and ambitions — a licensed contractor who also loved music and dreamed of opening a restaurant. Funeral notices and memorial pages record his birth on September 9, 1981, list surviving family members, and describe the outpouring of grief in the New Brunswick community, where neighbors and relatives collected memories and set up a memorial fund in his name.
Investigators quickly identified and arrested a suspect in the case. Authorities charged 20-year-old Justin Landrum, a visitor from Staten Island, with murder and weapons offenses; police statements indicated there was no known prior relationship between Seawright and the suspect and that the confrontation began as a verbal dispute before escalating to violence. Local reporting and an official city release tracked the arrest and subsequent charges, and the criminal case against the accused was filed following the investigation.
