NEWARK, NJ: Brunton Bissesar Singh, 55, was fatally shot while walking to work in the Newark early on Sunday., March 13th. He was walking to work on the 400 block of Roseville Avenue shortly before 6 am when the fatal shots rang out, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said in a joint statement.
Brunton Bissesar Singh, of Newark, supported his son and wife in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago, according to Roberto Mendez Spaccavento. No arrests have been made. An investigation is ongoing, and the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office did not release any details Monday. An investigation by the prosecutor’s office’s Major Crimes and Homicide Task Force remains active.
Singh had been a member of Spaccavento’s nutrition club, Health-Figure & Wellness on Roseville Avenue, for several years and had become a close friend. Lacking relatives in the United States, Singh bonded with the club members. “He has absolutely nobody,” Spaccavento said. “We were his family.”
Singh frequented the nutrition club every day to get a protein shake or a cup of tea and relax in front of the television, Spaccavento said. He said Singh was a popular member of the community. “Everybody in the neighborhood loved him,” Spaccavento said.
Their friendship extended beyond the nutrition club, with Singh helping Spaccavento’s family for two months after Spaccavento had surgery. “He would come early, he would help my wife clean up the place, help her close the gates and everything,” Spaccavento said. “He was really nice.”
Singh was walking to his job at Pit Stop gas station on Park Avenue and 16th Avenue early Sunday when shots were fired, according to Spaccavento. He said Singh was an hour late to work that day because he had forgotten to change his clocks for Daylight Saving Time.
About 50 of Singh’s friends gathered in front of the nutrition center Sunday evening to remember him. “I put some candles, his picture and flowers,” Spaccavento said. “We all gathered together, and we prayed.”
The homicide is the first in Newark since February 21 when a 32-year-old Irvington man was shot and killed in the West Ward. The city’s total for the year stands at 18, according to an NJ Advance Media count.
