NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—Jessica Torres, the 21-year-old woman shot to death on Hale Street early Saturday morning leaves behind a two-year-old son, Jeremiah.
Friends called her “Pretty Jessy” and said she was “warm and loving” in a story that aired earlier today on News 12 New Jersey. Â She was pronounced dead at 3:01am following a shooting outside of a social club.
Another city resident, Raheem Fuqua, was shot three times in the incident and remains at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in critical condition. Â A press release issued today by the county prosecutor’s office charactized Fuqua as an acquaintance of Torres.
Fuqua is also the cousin of Tormel Pittman, anti-violence activist who has been actively protesting the New Brunswick Police Department since the police killing of Barry Deloatch last year.
Authorities have been slow to comment on the shooting, and have not yet made an arrest in the case.
“Police aren’t talking. Prosectuors didn’t return our calls about it,” said News 12 reporter Lisa Salvati on the air earlier today.
Shortly after the story aired, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan released his first statement on the killing, almost twenty-nine hours after it occurred.
“A motive for the shooting remains under investigation. Â No arrests have been made, but the investigation is continuing,” read the press release, sent at 6:50pm.
The shooting occurred at 2:13am in front of the Progressive Masonic Temple at 186 Hale Street.
The lodge is typically rented out for parties on the weekends, and neighbors have complained about fights occurring outside the venue in the wake of the shooting.
The News 12 story said it was unclear whether Torres was ever in the club that night.
Crime Stoppers of Middlesex County is offering cash rewards for anonymous tips related to the shooting. To contact Crime Stoppers, call 800-939-9600 or go to www.middlesextips.com.
Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.
