Shawn Smith

How they died

Deadly force

Police were dispatched to a home on Van Velsor Place in Newark on a report of shots fired, police said. Police saw Smith running through an alley with a gun in his hand. Smith saw the officers and fired shots at them, then ran onto Chancellor Avenue, where he carjacked a Ford Escort at gunpoint. Newark police pursued the car into Irvington, where Smith struck a parked other and a utility pole. Smith got out of the car and ran west toward an alley on Chancellor. Officers chased him in there, where Smith allegedly brandished a knife and charged at the officers. Officer Onelio Tellez shot and killed him.

Why we remember them

This record exists so that Shawn Smith, and all who are named in this archive, are never reduced to a number.

References & sources