Rally against violence held in Newark to remember woman killed in shooting

NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) -- A stop the violence rally was held Wednesday night in a city that knows all too well about violence.

Murders are down so far this year in Newark, but there's no celebration in New Jersey's biggest city.

Residents gathered to remember one of the latest victims who was shot and killed while she was grocery shopping.

"Stop the shooting, stop the shooting, stop the killing, stop the killing," people chanted as they took part in the rally.

It's a community beyond frustration and way past pain.

Wednesday night, they took over an intersection in Newark's lower Roseville section after a 62-year-old woman was taken by the streets.

"If you have the car, pocketbook, pin numbers, money, why do you have to shoot her in the back multiple times and kill her? That's senseless," said Shakur Abdulrahim, the victim's ex-husband.

Abdulrahim returned to the spot where his ex-wife Deborah Burton took her last breaths on March 13th.

She was shot and killed in broad daylight in a case prosecutors say is still under active investigation.

Family members and community members are getting impatient.

There are a lot of questions about this case. What was Deborah Burton doing on this block? Who targeted her and why?

But to the people who live in this neighborhood, it's all basically irrelevant.

This amounts to yet another killing in a neighborhood that's sick of it.

But the circumstances of this case, however vague they still are, have sparked dramatic anger here.

Family member say Burton, who grew up here but lived in Maplewood, had been in town to drop off her adult son at work when, for some reason, she was attacked.

Prosecutors say they don't believe this was a carjacking, but have not revealed what they think did happen. And so for now, family members wait.

"Justice is going to be had in this case, whether through the police or through street soldiers. There's going to be some satisfaction here," Abdulrahim said.