“How can the police police the police? If they can shoot down our kids, who are mostly black and Latino, and walk away without anything happening to them, then what’s being done?”
-Amiri Baraka
On January 19th, 2026, Wali Bey, known to family, friends, and community members as “Grillz,” was shot and killed by Newark Police Officer, Nashid Reynolds in Newark’s South Ward. Bey and a close friend were in a van when multiple undercover officers approached the vehicle. Officer Reynolds fired his gun into the van, killing Bey and wounding his friend.
Community Movement Builders Newark offers our condolences and support to Bey’s family and those who knew him. We affirm and uplift the humanity of Wali Bey–a father, a community servant, and beloved family member–amid yet another case of state-sanctioned violence. Wali Bey deserved to live in a world free of oppression. His children deserve to live in a world free of oppression. His family and friends deserve to live in a world free of oppression. His friend who was shot and injured while with him in the van deserves to live in a world free of oppression.
For weeks now, Bey’s family has repeatedly demanded that body cam footage of the shooting be released. They have repeatedly demanded that Officer Nashid Reynolds be held accountable for killing Wali. They have been crystal clear: if the situation were reversed, Grillz would face swift and severe consequences. We stand behind the family and reinforce these demands. We demand justice for Wali Bey!
It is now February 24th and there has been near radio silence from the police. On top of that, most media outlets have, as usual, privileged the vague and incomplete narratives of the police and the state while dismissing witness and community testimony as “speculation.” Witnesses and community members have been able to provide much more context for the shooting, sharing that “Bey and his friend were sitting in Bey’s parked white van when a pair of unmarked cars pulled up. They said several men in civilian clothes with masks on got out of the vehicles and approached them with guns drawn, putting Bey in fear for his life and prompting him to try to drive away, when he was shot through the windshield.” This scene is not new. “Undercovers” have long been an issue in Newark that Newarkers have consistently pointed out. Undercovers underscore the Newark Police Department’s lack of transparency. Since the shooting, Newarkers–including Bey’s loved ones–have protested this lack of transparency, day in and day out. As one of Bey’s family members asked, “What would you do. . .[if] men in masks [were] coming toward you with guns”? This lack of transparency presents safety concerns for the people of Newark. In this case, and in many others, it has led to death at the hands of armed agents of the state.
We also haven’t heard much from City Hall. And despite Mayor Ras Baraka and “Public Safety” Director Emmanuel Miranda’s characterization of community testimony as “a stream of misinformation,” Bey’s loved ones continue to demand answers. City Hall has advised Newarkers to wait for the investigation to run its course and allow the New Jersey Attorney General’s office the full 20 days allotted by the Independent Prosecutor Directive. It is now February 24th and 36 total days (or 28 “business” days) have passed since Wali Bey’s murder. And still, we have heard nothing from City Hall or the Attorney General’s office. Wali Bey’s family and the people of Newark deserve answers immediately. The killing of Wali Bey and the ongoing lack of transparency has made it plain that there is a wide gap between the power of the police and the power of Newark residents.
As high profile incidents such as the 1967 beating of John Smith and the 2021 killing of Carl Dorsey have shown, historically, trust between the people of Newark and the Newark Police Department has been in short supply. This lack of trust led to the ACLU’s 2010 petition to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) concerning NPD’s violations of Newarkers’ constitutional rights, uses excessive force, as well as unjustified stops and arrests. The petition, of course, resulted in the DOJ entering into a Consent Decree with Newark in 2016 with the goal of reforming the Newark Police Department. A decade and $10 million later, one of Independent Monitor Peter Harvey’s key findings was that “NPD is still working under pre-Consent Decree policies in many areas of…internal affairs.”
Things like this lead us to ask Newarkers, do you trust the police to police the police? Peter Harvey has recommended that the police be “more engaged” with the community. Other organizations have called for Newark’s Civilian Complaint Review Board to regain subpoena power. CMB Newark asks the people of Newark, what would it look like if residents had true POWER over the police? What would it look like for Newark residents to organize to win control over the resources and responsibilities that are entrusted to the police? These are conversations that need to be had in Newark, and we want to start bringing folks together to have them. Because something HAS TO change. What happened to Grillz should never happen to anyone else ever again.
Because we believe all life has value and stand in solidarity with all oppressed people, we believe it is important for people all over the world to know about the savagery of ICE—in Minneapolis, in L.A. and in our own city with the death of Jean Wilson Brutus—the genocide in Palestine, the threats to Iran, the militarization of Puerto Rico, the starvation of Cuba, and the destabilization of places like Venezuela, Haiti, Sudan, and the Congo. We also believe it is important for people all over the world to know about what happened to Wali Bey. His life, like so many others around the world, has been destroyed by U.S. violence. This country continues to prove over and over again, that they don’t care what they do or who they do it to as long as the cash keeps flowing and the money is right. Once we understand this, we understand that justice for Wali Bey and all victims of U.S. violence requires much more than reforms—like body cams and consent decrees—that do not give us real power.
We understand that achieving genuine people power won’t happen in a day. But Newarkers must come together and do the hard work of organizing to build that power so that we can LIVE and live with dignity rooted in Black love.
The city doesn’t belong to the police! The city doesn’t belong to ICE. This city doesn’t belong to Prudential, Amazon, GEO Group, Lionsgate or any other corporation that wants to set up shop here and impede community-based methods of safety and development. This city doesn’t belong to the city council or even the Honorable Ras J. Baraka. This city belongs to the people of Newark! And now is the time for the people of Newark to demand what is theirs.
Justice for Wali Bey!
Justice for Jean Wilson Brutus!
All Power to the People of Newark!