Family, friends mourn 2 young women fatally shot on Halloween night in New Jersey

Saturday, November 4, 2017
Family, friends mourn 2 young women fatally shot on Halloween night
A.J. Ross reports from Elizabeth, New Jersey.

ELIZABETH, New Jersey (WABC) -- Senseless violence claimed the lives of two young women. They were shot and killed Tuesday night as they walked across a park in New Jersey. One is the mother of a baby.

Small flickers of candlelight cast silhouettes on heartfelt embraces Friday night as dozens gathered inside Jackson Park in Elizabeth.

They were there to mourn the loss of two vibrant young women viciously gunned down Halloween night.

"Rah-Zhane and Shaniquah didn't deserve it, they both did not deserve that," said Ashley Bethea, Shaniquah's sister.

Best friends 22-year-old Rah-Zhane Lee and 24-year-old Shaniquah Richardson were using the park as a short cut around midnight, when witnesses say they heard several gunshots back to back.

"It's crazy, it doesn't make any sense to me," said Dottie Brown, Shaniquah's mother. "I just wish if anybody know what happen to my daughter Shaniquah and Rah-Zhane they come forward."

Both women were rushed to a nearby hospital, but their injuries were just too severe.

Loved ones say the agonizing loss and the immense void they now leave behind is indescribable, and perhaps most gut wrenching when you stare into Shaniquah's 11-month-old daughter's eyes...

"They leave her without a mother without a mother it's not right," Brown said.

"My daughter she didn't deserve this at all," said Kendra Lee Carey, Rah-Zhane's mother.

"It takes one night just to know that I will never see her again," said Denita Latish, Rah-Zhane's sister. "I will never be able to hug my sister, I will never be able to tell her I love her."

United in pain, demanding justice, the families of both women are now praying for answers that will simply give them peace, as police continue to hunt for the suspects responsible.

"Who has the right to just take a human's life like that, it's just unreal, it's selfish, it's evil, it's cold," she said.

Police handed out flyers at the vigil asking anyone with information to come forward.

An anonymous tip leading to an arrest could result in a $10,000 reward.