Prosecutor: Newark Man Convicted of Killing Off-Duty Police Officer

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray announced today that a Newark man has been convicted in the May 2011 death of an off-duty Newark police officer.

Rasul McNeil-Thomas, 23, was convicted by an Essex County jury of aggravated manslaughter for killing off-duty Newark Police Officer William Johnson, according to the release from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.

McNeil-Thomas was also convicted of the attempted murder of Marissa Tarry and Ashley Lamar, both of Newark. According to the prosecutor’s office, Lamar was shot in a drive-by shooting. Tarry, however, was the intended target and was not shot.

Johnson was shot on May 26, 2011, while ordering pizza at the Texas Fried Chicken and Pizza restaurant, just blocks away from his home on Lyons Avenue in Newark, the prosecutor’s office said. He died from his injuries the following day, May 27, 2011.

“This was a senseless and tragic killing of a police officer who simply went to buy a slice of pizza,” Assistant Prosecutor Romesh Sukhdeo said in the release from the prosecutor’s office. “He was in the wrong place, at the wrong time and caught a bullet intended for someone else.”

According to Assistant Prosecutor Sukhdeo, McNeil-Thomas was seeking retribution on a group of girls who reportedly punched his mother in the face and opened fire on the restaurant, where the girls were known to hang out.

According to the prosecutor’s office, McNeil-Thomas was acquitted of the more serious offense of murder, but was convicted of numerous other charges including:

• Conspiracy to commit carjacking
• Carjacking
• Conspiracy to commit murder
• Aggravated Manslaughter
• Two counts of unlawful possession of a handgun
• Possession of a firearm with a purpose to use it unlawfully against a person or property
• Two counts of attempted murder
• Two counts of aggravated assault
• Reckless aggravated assault

McNeil-Thomas is scheduled to be sentenced on April 24. He faces life in prison.

For more information, read the entire release at the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office website.