Deloris Gibson is seeking the public’s help for leads in the fatal 2015 shooting that claimed the life of her son, Darcel Rivers, back when he was 35 years old.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“It was June 2nd, 2015, and at the Boys and Girls Club of Hoboken where I am the director, we had all dressed in orange in recognition of Gun Violence Awareness Day. Two days later, my son, Darcel Rivers, was shot to death,” Gibson said in a statement.
“Darcel was a big clown – that was my clown – the way he would make me laugh. He was a good person and he loved to be around kids. He always wanted to be a chef and that was one of his dreams he accomplished before he was taken from us. He did it and I am always going to proud of him.”
Rivers was visiting Jersey City from Rhode Island where he was in culinary school
when he was shot and killed and he was only a few steps from his mother’s house when the shooting occurred.
On June 4th, 2015, just after 3:45 a.m., Jersey City police received a 911 call of
an unresponsive male lying on the sidewalk in front of 117 Fulton Ave.
Responding officers, along with EMS, observed the victim bleeding from his head with an apparent gunshot wound.
The victim, later identified as Rivers, was transported to the Jersey City Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased at 4:15 a.m. The cause of death was determined to be from a gunshot wound and the manner of death was determined to be homicide.
“He used to be the first one of my kids to call me on my birthday and on Mother’s Day, he would always have to be the first to call at 4:30 a.m. He said ‘I am the one that made you a mother, so I gotta be the first one to call you’ and that was one of his traditions every year,” Gibson added.
She noted that while she has personally taken the loss very hard, his four children Zaire Rivers, 18, Zyla Rivers, 10, Zakie Rivers, 8, and Zaria Rivers, 7, have been especially impacted with the loss of their father.
“I want to tell whoever did this, ‘You took a very beloved father away from his kids. He enjoyed life – he would never take a life. The person who did this, how does that sit on your conscious?,'” Gibson continued.
“We just want to know who did this and why? Why? Anybody who has info we would be so grateful. His kids need closure, so please just think about them. I am hoping someone out there who has information will have a heart and will do the right thing.”
The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit continues to actively investigate this
case. Anyone with information is asked to contact the HCPO at 201-915-1345 or to leave an anonymous tip at: http://www.hudsoncountyprosecutorsofficenj.org/homicide-tip/.
All information will be kept confidential.
