Newark family loses all 3 sons to gun violence in 5 years

Tyquan Rogers — a young Newark man killed by gunfire in the city Monday — is the third of three brothers to have been killed by gun violence, authorities and loved ones said this week.

"This morning, watching this woman cry on her floor — and I felt very hopeless and helpless about what I could do for her, losing a third child in the city," Mayor Ras Baraka told the city council Tuesday night, as part of a larger discussion on public safety reform.

He said he told police it would be too difficult for Rogers' mother to watch a video of the 20-year-old's killing that day.

Sunniie Monroe, who has started a GoFundMe account to help Rogers' mother, Sonia pay for costs, told New Jersey 101.5 in an email Rogers "was a good kid.

"He wasn't a street kid," she said. "He was a family kid."

The Associated Press has reported Rogers died at University Hospital from apparent gunshots wounds on Monday shortly after 8 p.m. Authorities say they found Rogers on the ground, unresponsive.

Authorities have not yet released further details.

According to a New Jersey Advance Media report, Rogers' two brothers — Anthony and Antoine Rogers – were shot and killed in Newark in 2011 and 2012. Anthony Rogers 's death at age 21 was attributed to gang violence, the report said. Antoine Rogers was also 21 when he was shot and killed, the report said.

"Some may know and some may not know the feeling of (losing) a child but none of us know the pain of (losing) three of your sons, two which were in a 8-month bracket, and your baby son four years later," Monroe wrote on the fundraiser page for the family. "something of this nature can rip a persons heart out."

But she said Sonia Rogers has been "as strong as she could possibly be still never getting over the death of her first-born and second-born son."

"Now she faces it again with her third-born and last son," Monroe continued. "We the family are asking that if you can help in anyway even with the smallest donation all will be appreciated."

In his speak before the council Tuesday, Baraka said as a lifelong resident and longtime educator in Newark, he knows many of the young people who've been gunned down in his city.

"t was very hurtful for me this morning as a person, not just as the mayor of the city," he said.

Central Ward Councilwoman Gayle Chaneyfield Jenkins told the mayor she knows it's horrible for any parent to lose a child..

"For someone to lose three is unspeakable," she said.