NEWARK — Last year, Raheem Singleton attended a rally hosted by the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition, a group that demonstrates weekly against bloodshed in the state’s largest city. Now, a rally may be held in memory of Singleton, who was shot and killed Wednesday evening. Singleton, 27, was shot around 6 p.m. on Rose Street near Woodland Cemetery, said Katherine...
Woodland Cemetery in Newark in this June 2010 file photo.NEWARK — Last year, Raheem Singleton attended a rally hosted by the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition, a group that demonstrates weekly against bloodshed in the state’s largest city.
Now, a rally may be held in memory of Singleton, who was shot and killed Wednesday evening.
Singleton, 27, was shot around 6 p.m. on Rose Street near Woodland Cemetery, said Katherine Carter, spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. He was pronounced dead at University Hospital at short time later, she said.
Authorities have not identified a motive or suspect in the slaying.
"He respected all those who respected him. If someone got in trouble he tried to be a peacemaker," said his cousin Dannisha Clayburne, a member of the NAVC. "For something like this to happen, it just makes me outraged."
Clayburne said Singleton was a lifelong Newark resident and was looking for work after being released from prison. He was last incarcerated in November 2009, after being convicted of drug distribution charges, records show. He was in prison for nearly two years.
"A lot of people that get in trouble don’t always want to commit their life to staying in trouble," said Clayburne. "He really wanted to do different things in his life."
State prison records show Singleton was arrested several times for drug distribution charges between 2006 and 2009.
Clayburne said her cousin became interested in the coalition’s rallies last year. One may be held in Singleton’s honor in the future, said Bashir Akinyele, a leader of the group. The incident is being investigated by Newark’s Major Crimes unit and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
Woodland Cemetery has been known as a haven for violence since 2001, when a partially burned body was found in the graveyard. In 2005, popular high-school athlete Yusef Johnson, then 15, was gunned down on a street corner outside the cemetery.
By James Queally and Tomas Dinges/The Star-Ledger