In the winter of 2015, the city of Newark was once again the scene of a tragedy that struck a family already intimately familiar with heartbreak. Tyquan Rogers, a 20-year-old male, was fatally shot on the evening of Monday, December 28th. The incident occurred in the 200 block of South 11th Street, where police responded to reports of gunfire around 7:15 p.m. Upon arrival, they discovered Rogers unresponsive on the sidewalk, suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. He was rushed to University Hospital, but his life could not be saved, and he was pronounced dead shortly after 8:00 p.m.
The death of Tyquan Rogers marked a devastating chapter in his family's story, as he was the last of three brothers to be killed by gun violence in Newark. His older brothers, Anthony and Antoine Rogers, had been shot and killed in separate incidents in 2011 and 2012.
The loss of her third and final son plunged their mother into an unimaginable depth of grief, a sorrow that was publicly acknowledged by then-Mayor Ras Baraka, who spoke of the city's collective failure to protect its youth.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Task Force launched an investigation into the homicide. Authorities appealed to the public for any information that could lead to the identification and apprehension of the individual or individuals responsible for Tyquan Rogers' death. Despite the active and ongoing investigation at the time, there have been no subsequent public announcements regarding any arrests made or suspects identified in connection with the murder. The case, a profound tragedy for the Rogers family and the Newark community, remains without a public resolution in terms of bringing any perpetrators to justice.
