On the evening of November 18, 2014, a young man's life was abruptly ended on a street in Irvington, New Jersey. Mencea Ryner, an 18-year-old male, was in the vicinity of Lincoln Place when he was fatally shot. The attack was sudden and brutal; a man on a bicycle, later identified as 22-year-old Jerrell Alexander, rode up and opened fire. Ryner was struck multiple times, with devastating wounds to his brain and heart, and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into the
shooting revealed a chilling sequence of events captured on surveillance video. The footage showed Alexander, armed with a. 45 caliber handgun equipped with a laser scope, firing at Ryner four times. In the immediate aftermath, no suspects were identified and no arrests were made, leaving a community shaken and a family grieving. However, the violence connected to this single act was not yet over, as those who witnessed the crime were soon targeted themselves in an apparent attempt to silence them.
Less than a month later, on December 17, 2014, two men who had been with Ryner on the night he was killed, Jaime Walker and Davon Arrington, were shot while walking on Orange Avenue in Irvington. Walker, also 18, died from his injuries, while Arrington was shot in the face but survived. This second shooting intensified the investigation, ultimately leading authorities to Jerrell Alexander. He was convicted in October 2016 for the murder of Mencea Ryner, conspiracy to commit murder, and weapons offenses. While also implicated in the subsequent shooting of the witnesses, he was ultimately convicted only of unlawful possession of the weapon used in Walker's murder. For the murder of Mencea Ryner, Alexander was sentenced to 48 years in prison.
