On Christmas Eve of 2018, the life of 29-year-old Troy Ibn Branch of Newark, New Jersey, was tragically cut short. In the late afternoon, shortly before 5 p.m., police responded to reports of a shooting on the 200-block of Peshine Avenue. Upon their arrival, officers discovered an unresponsive Branch who had sustained apparent gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:40 p.m.
The investigation into the death of Troy Ibn Branch, a man described in some reports as mentally challenged, was conducted by the Essex County Prosecutor's Homicide Task Force, which includes detectives from the Newark Police Department.
For a time, no suspects were publicly identified, and authorities appealed to the public for any information that might lead to an arrest in the fatal shooting.
In early January 2019, a breakthrough in the case was announced. Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II and Newark Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose confirmed the arrest of Hassan Fisher, 24, also of Newark. Fisher was apprehended at a residence in Newark and subsequently charged with the murder of Troy Branch. The investigation was described as active and ongoing at the time of the arrest.
