In the summer of 2014, a senseless act of violence cut short the promising life of 19-year-old Christopher Lemoine in Jersey City, New Jersey. A young man of Caucasian and Hispanic descent, he was a student at Rutgers University with dreams of a future in law enforcement, a path tragically altered on the evening of July 3rd. It was then that Lemoine was found shot on Lembeck Avenue; he was pronounced dead a short time later, leaving a community to grapple with the sudden loss of a bright and
ambitious individual.
Christopher, who was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, had moved to Jersey City at the age of three. He was a graduate of McNair Academic High School and was diligently studying criminal justice, aspiring to one day serve and protect as a police officer. His friends and family remembered him as a smart and driven young man, making his untimely death all the more poignant. The irony of his chosen field of study and his violent end was not lost on those who knew him, who lamented that he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The investigation into the shooting led authorities to another 19-year-old Jersey City resident, Kirt Barrington. A warrant for Barrington's arrest was issued on July 19, 2014, and he was taken into custody two days later in Hackensack. He faced charges of murder, unlawful possession of a handgun, and possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose. At the time of his arrest for Lemoine's murder, Barrington was already facing charges from a separate incident in February of that year, for which he had been granted bail.
While an arrest was made, the motive for the shooting remained unclear in the immediate aftermath. The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office continued to investigate whether any other individuals were involved in the killing that silenced the ambitions of a young man on the cusp of his future. The community was left to mourn and remember a life of potential, tragically extinguished.
