On an early October afternoon in Newark's West Ward, Dawoo A. Goff, a 31-year-old Black / African American male from the city, ran for his life along the 200 block of South 6th Street as gunfire erupted behind him. It was Wednesday, October 6, 2021, broad daylight around 3:30 p.m., when an armed man ambushed him on the street. Witnesses later told investigators they saw Goff sprinting down the block, clearly terrified, with the gunman in pursuit.
As he ran, he pleaded with the shooter to spare his life, but the response was a barrage of shots that shattered the afternoon calm and left him collapsing on the pavement.
Police officers, responding to reports of shots fired, arrived to find Goff suffering from serious gunshot wounds. The scene, in a residential stretch of South 6th Street in the West Ward, quickly filled with flashing lights and onlookers who had heard or seen the attack unfold in real time. Emergency responders rushed Goff to University Hospital, the major trauma center for the area, but the damage was too severe. Doctors pronounced him dead at approximately 3:45 p.m., less than an hour after the first 911 calls. His killing marked another grim entry in Newark's tally of gun homicides that year.
In the chaotic minutes after the shooting, the gunman fled. Witness accounts gathered by detectives described the assailant as a male who continued to run after firing, discarding evidence as he went. He reportedly tossed the weapon and shed some items of clothing while heading in the direction of Newark Collegiate Academy, a charter school in the West Ward, before managing to escape the immediate area. Detectives from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force and Newark police canvassed the neighborhood, looking for surveillance footage and additional witnesses who might help them track the route of flight and identify the shooter.
In the days that followed, officials publicly named Goff as the victim and appealed for help. They emphasized that the investigation was active and ongoing and that they were searching for the person responsible for what they described as a callous killing in front of witnesses on a busy weekday afternoon. Tip lines were advertised, and residents were urged to come forward with anything they might have seen or heard, no matter how small. Even as time passed, case summaries and victim-focused sites continued to describe the assailant only as an unidentified gunman, underscoring how little has been disclosed publicly about a suspect's identity. As of the most recent publicly available updates in 2025, no arrest in connection with Goff's killing has been reported, and authorities continue to seek leads.
While the official case file centers on the chase, the gunfire, and the still-unidentified shooter, online memorials offer a quieter, more intimate picture of the man whose life was taken. On tribute pages dedicated to victims of gun violence, friends and relatives light digital candles and leave short messages, remembering Goff as more than just a name in a police press release. They describe a hardworking man and a loving father, someone who was part of the fabric of Newark's everyday life before it was violently cut short. Notes from family members speak of holidays missed, children growing up without him, and a grief that lingers far beyond the tape and markers that once outlined the crime scene. Each new message is a reminder that, even as the investigation remains unresolved and the shooter unnamed, those closest to Goff continue to live with the unanswered questions of a broad-daylight killing that has yet to bring anyone to justice.
