NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—City police investigated “an altercation at a party that resulted in gunfire” on October 28 at approximately 2am, according to a press release and a Rutgers University crime alert.
The shooting that injured a 21-year-old New Brunswick man occurred following a brawl outside a private home at 120 Hamilton Street, just steps away from the university’s main campus.
That altercation began when a group of “eight to ten African American males attempted to gain entry to a social event for a few fraternities and sororities,” according to the New Brunswick Police Department (NBPD) press release.
“When the group was denied entry, a physical altercation ensued between the group and the guests of the event. The altercation escalated to a large brawl on the sidewalk,” the release continues.
“As the brawl was ending an African American male, with shoulder length dreadlocks, and between 5’7” and 5’9”, wearing a white baggy shirt and blue jeans, pulled out a black handgun and fired one or two rounds into the crowd.”
The shooter and the rest of the group reportedly fled on Hamilton Street towards Easton Avenue.
The victim, who was shot in the shoulder, was one of the guests at the party. Police said he was taken to nearby Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital where he was treated for the “non-life threatening injury.”
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the New Brunswick Detective Bureau at (732) 745-5217.
The incident came six days after an aggravated assault just a few blocks away on High Street between Somerset and Hamilton Streets.
In that incident, the victim was assaulted with a sharp object and injured “while intervening in an altercation between two individuals he did not know” one of them assaulted him with a sharp object, according to a Rutgers crime alert.
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.
