Questions After Officer Kills C.E.O. in Newark Park
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
NEWARK — Returning to New Jersey for his 30th high school reunion, DeFarra Gaymon had the kind of life one would not mind describing to old friends: he was a C.E.O., married, father of four. But Mr. Gaymon, who was in the Chess Club, the French Club, the Italian Club and the student coalition at Montclair High School, never made it to the party on Friday night at the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands.
Credit Union of Atlanta, via Star Ledger
DeFarra Gaymon, in New Jersey for a reunion, was fatally shot in Branch Brook Park.
Richard Perry/The New York Times
Branch Brook Park is known as a pickup spot for sex.
Instead, as other members of the class of 1980 were collecting their name tags, Mr. Gaymon, known as Dean, lay dying at the University Hospital in Newark, having been shot in the chest by a police officer in Branch Brook Park, a few miles away.
On Tuesday, the acting Essex County prosecutor gave the first detailed, public description of what happened in the wooded park that night, saying that the officer, who had tried to arrest Mr. Gaymon, 48, over lewd behavior, fired in self-defense. The prosecutor, Robert D. Laurino, said that Mr. Gaymon assaulted the officer, a 29-year-old member of the Essex County Sheriff’s Department, tried to flee and then, when cornered, attempted to disarm the officer.
Mr. Gaymon’s family released a statement that said, in part, “We know that the police killed an innocent man, with no history of or disposition towards violence.” A man who answered the phone at the family’s home in Suwanee, Ga., said no one there had more to say.
A fatal shooting in Newark on a Friday night is hardly a rare occurrence, but this was neither the usual spot nor the usual suspects, leaving many questions.
The officer, whose name was not released because of his undercover work, had been on what is not usually a particularly dangerous assignment, scouring the park, in northern Newark, for men seeking sex.
Mr. Gaymon was a successful businessman, the president and chief executive of Credit Union of Atlanta. On the Web site of the Credit Union Executives Society, Mr. Gaymon said his “ultimate career goals” were to lead a $150-million-plus credit union and provide “financial literacy programs that help employees and members become financially savvy.”
He added, “It’s just my passion to share information that can change a person’s financial life.”
Mr. Gaymon was one of the organizers of the reunion, which he drove up to attend. “All the people that knew him say you never met a kinder, nicer, more gentle person, and they’re stunned about what happened,” said John Joyce, the president of the Montclair High School Alumni Association.
The officer and his partner were patrolling the park in plain clothes, part of an operation that has been going on for years, said Mr. Laurino, the prosecutor.
Many Questions in Officer’s Killing of C.E.O. in Newark - NYTimes.com
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