Bouncer killed breaking up bar fight in New Jersey

WEST ORANGE, N.J.

The victim's family says Jacques Nelson was just trying to do his job as a bouncer.

He was breaking up someone else's fight in this parking lot when someone killed him.

It's grief like no other, a mother mourning for her child.

"I can't sleep. I can't eat because I love my son," said Jacqueline Florestal, the victim's mother.

Clutching her son's two young daughters, Jacqueline Florestal, who's from Haiti, spoke to Eyewitness News in a mix of English and Creole about the tragedy that's swallowed her heart and her family.

"She says she's grieving for her son, but she knows he will not come back and it's a loss that she'll have to deal with," said Merylnne Florestal, the victim's sister.

26-year-old Merylnne Florestal translated and told Eyewitness News about her brother.

Nelson was shot and killed while trying to break-up a fight outside a west orange Peruvian bar where he worked as a bouncer.

Investigators say surveillance cameras captured what happened and they've released this picture of the suspect, a Hispanic man in his 20's or 30's.

Police are handing out fliers in both Spanish and English with the suspect's picture, hoping someone here recognizes him.

The Essex County Sheriff's Department Crimestoppers is even offering a $5,000 reward.

Ironically, Nelson was murdered in a parking lot next to a police substation, but no one was around to help when the shooting happened early Sunday morning.

"The whole apartment knows what's going on because they could hear her screams from down the hall," Merylnne Florestal said.

Merylnne Florestal says her brother was a gentle giant, a Christian man who worked two jobs and gave his mother money to help with the bills.

"I've got double pain. I've got pain because I lost him. I've got pain because he's not here for help me anymore," Jacqueline Florestal said.

Jacques Nelson was born in Haiti and came to the U.S. when he was 19.

He has two children who live in the U.S. and two who live in Haiti.

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