Gunfire claims life of young activist

After getting arrested for dealing drugs as a teen, Yusuf Shabazz turned his life around by getting into anti-gang and -violence activism and warning other young people away from a lawless life on the street.

But the chaos the Newark resident warred against claimed the 22-year-old's life yesterday morning after a barrage of gunfire fatally wounded him and injured another man at a city apartment complex.

"His work was against violence and he died in violence," said Earl Best, a prominent activist known in Newark as the "Street Doctor" and who worked closely with Shabazz. "He's a good guy. He will be missed."

Newark police responded at 11:42 p.m. Tuesday to the Garden Spires, a twin high-rise complex on First Street, where they found Shabazz and another man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to the upper torso and legs, said Detective Hubert Henderson, Newark police spokesman.

Both victims were rushed to University Hospital, where Shabazz died at 1:30 a.m., said Paul Loriquet, spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office. The other victim, a 21-year-old Newark resident police did not want to identify for fear of retribution, was listed in stable condition yesterday, said Henderson.

It was the second fatal shooting at the complex this year. In August, Alkabir Diggs, 29, was shot in the chest.

Yesterday, wary residents, who declined to give their names, said the apartment complex is a popular hangout for drug dealers because it is near Route 280. A message left with management went unanswered yesterday.

Fellow activists and friends of Shabazz's said he was an innocent bystander. Police and the prosecutor's office did not comment on that claim.

"Some of the victims killed this year were not the intended target," said Bashir Akinyele, spokesman for the Newark chapter of the New Black Panther Party.

Marques Aquil-Lewis, 21, another activist, echoed that claim and said, "He was like a brother. He had an energy about him that was all about changing things."

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