Animal Control Officer Fatally Shot in New Jersey: Prosecutor

"I tried to bring him back to life," brother says

A 43-year-old animal control officer was being mourned by family and co-workers hours after he was gunned down outside of his home in Newark overnight on Tuesday, shot four times in the head.

Alvis Carrington had made several calls on the job with the Associated Humane Societies in Newark then stopped by his house a few miles away to get something to eat, his brother said.

He was shot at about 11:30 p.m. on the 200 block of Wainwright Avenue and pronounced dead at 12:12 a.m. Wednesday, investigators said.

He suffered four shots to the head, a source familiar with the investigation and the victim's brother said. 

"Shots rang out and I came out and he had a big hole in his head,” Larry Carrington said about his brother. "I tried to bring him back to life."

He added: "He died in my arms right there across the street." 

No one in the neighborhood saw the shooter but detectives took surveillance video from buildings down the block.

Another relative, Lucille Crowley, said she couldn't understand why Carrington, a father and husband, was targeted.

He "never hurt nobody," she said. 

Carrington had worked for the AHS-Newark Branch animal shelter for nearly 16 years.

“We are all devastated and in total shock,” the shelter wrote on Facebook.

His co-workers were setting out candles in his honor on Wednesday.

Carrington’s supervisor Shakeeta Willis said all of his co-workers were friends with him

“We’re hurting,” she said. 

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