In the early morning hours of January 21, 2017, the life of 21-year-old Tyquan Johnson of Newark was tragically cut short in a fatal shooting in Roselle, New Jersey. Johnson, a male, was discovered by Roselle Police Department units just after 2:30 a.m. in the driver's seat of a vehicle on the 1000 block of Rivington Street, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was rushed to University Hospital in Newark, where he was pronounced dead later that day.
The investigation that followed revealed the shooting was the culmination of a heated argument and physical altercation involving several people. The dispute had reportedly been sparked by a social media post that a man named Nathaniel Price believed was insulting to one of his relatives. This online conflict escalated into a real-world confrontation that ended in gunfire.
Three days after the fatal shooting, 25-year-old Nathaniel Price of Roselle turned himself in to the authorities.
He was subsequently charged with murder and related weapons offenses in connection with Johnson's death. Investigators located the handgun used in the shooting in a nearby home, and Price's DNA was found on multiple parts of the weapon.
In May 2019, Nathaniel Price, then 28, pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter and two related weapons offenses. By his plea, he admitted his responsibility for the death of Tyquan Johnson. As a result of his guilty plea, he was expected to be sentenced to 24 years in state prison, with the requirement to serve 85% of his term before becoming eligible for parole under New Jersey's No Early Release Act. The Union County Homicide Task Force, Roselle Police Department, Union County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Unit, and Union County Police Department Ballistics Unit all took part in the joint investigation.
