Newark Man Charged in Union Township Chick-fil-A Mass Shooting Murder

A Newark man is now accused of turning a busy Chick-fil-A on Route 22 into the scene of a mass shooting that left one customer dead and six other people wounded. Police arrested Jaheed Fields, 20, on Hayes Street in Newark on May 2 and charged him with first-degree murder, six counts of first-degree attempted murder, and firearms offenses.

The shooting erupted at about 9 p.m. on April 11 inside the Union Township restaurant, where investigators said seven people were struck by gunfire. Malek Shepherd, 23, of New York City, was identified as the man killed in the attack. Officials said Shepherd was a customer at the time and was pronounced dead at the scene, while the six other victims were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

What pushed the case forward was a combination of video evidence and coordinated police work. Investigators said dashcam footage showed a masked man with a gun running from the restaurant moments after the shooting, a detail that helped move the case from a chaotic public-safety event to a named suspect. Fields is being held at Essex County Jail while he awaits his next court appearance.

Governor Mikie Sherrill said she had been briefed on the shooting and later said the preliminary investigation suggested it did not appear to be random. She also said there was no immediate ongoing threat to the general public. Township officials said the Union County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Task Force was leading the investigation and that extra patrols were put in place for residents after the attack.

Authorities had already been asking for help as the search widened, with a reward of up to $10,000 offered for information. One report said investigators were exploring whether the shooting was tied to a drug or gang dispute, but officials had not publicly confirmed a motive by the time Fields was arrested.

The violence landed especially hard because it unfolded in a place built for routine, not fear. Union Township had previously highlighted the Chick-fil-A as its Business of the Month in 2016 and noted the restaurant as a site for a Fireman Appreciation Day, a reminder of how abruptly an everyday family stop became the center of a murder case.