Newark police investigate two deadly shootings, hours apart

NEWARK — Authorities on Sunday were investigating the shooting deaths of two local men, hours apart.

Rahman K. Branch, 39, was gunned down on Saturday night, around 11 p.m., according to Acting Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens. Police found Branch unresponsive with several gunshot wounds on the 300 block of South 9th Street and he was pronounced dead at University Hospital.

Around 2:30 a.m Sunday, police responded to a separate report of gunshots about a mile away, on the 400 block of 7th Avenue. Officers found 32-year-old Nathaniel Mickens, unresponsive inside a vehicle at the intersection of 7th Avenue and North 12th Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Stephens said the incidents appeared to be unrelated.

Both are being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Homicide Task Force, which includes Newark Police detectives.  Anyone with information is asked to call the Prosecutor's Tips Line at (877) 847-7432. 

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