A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest in the fatal shooting of an East Orange Campus High School standout basketball player earlier this week.
Letrell Duncan, 16, was shot four times about 3:15 p.m. Monday in the 100 block of Lincoln Street, just moments after students were dismissed for the day from the high school, according to Essex County Sheriff Armando Fontoura.
The teenager was taken to University Hospital in Newark, where he died about a half hour later, officials have said.
Investigators said they are looking for a group of people and a vehicle seen in the area at the time of the shooting. The crime scene is a little more than a half mile from the high school campus, where Duncan was a student.
Fontoura said Wednesday the county’s CrimeStoppers Program is offering the reward to anyone providing information leading to the arrest of a suspect in the case.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force Tips Line at 1-877-847-7432, 1-877-TIPS-4EC, or the East Orange Police Department Tips Hotline at 973-266-5041.
In addition to the reward, a GoFundMe set up for Duncan’s family had raised more than $23,000 as of Thursday morning. The money will be used for funeral expenses and financial assistance, the site states.
In a statement on Tuesday, East Orange Mayor Ted R. Green said police patrols in the city immediately increased after the shooting.
“This shooting has shaken our community to its core, and collectively, we must come together to prioritize and protect our young people,” Green said in a statement. “EOPD has increased patrols in our school corridors and we are taking aggressive action to ensure gun violence does not disrupt our community.”
A 6-foot-1, 160-pound sophomore guard, Duncan was widely considered one of the top young basketball prospects in New Jersey. He scored 180 points last season as a freshman at East Orange Campus, helping the team to a 15-9 record in one of the most competitive conferences in the state.
Duncan also starred on the AAU circuit for Garden State Bounce, emerging as one of the top 10 young recruits in the state, according to at least one ranking service. The team’s Instagram page described Duncan as, “Our floor general, team captain and the best point guard our program has seen.”
NJ Advance Media Reporter Matthew Stanmyre contributed to this report.
Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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