BRIDGETON — On Saturday afternoon, Gwen Benson said it had been 24 hours since her son, Darryl L. Fuqua, was killed. It was two hours, she said, since detectives sat on her couch and explained that he had been shot twice in the back and once in the chest by a police officer.
“I asked to see my son and they said ‘no, it’s under investigation,'” Benson said. “I have not yet been able to see my son. In my heart I’m still thinking this is a dream. Until I see my child dead, he might walk through that door.”
Darryl L. “De Rose” FuquaFacebook
That was the only time Benson’s voice wavered as she spoke to a reporter in her mother’s home in Bridgeton Saturday. Otherwise, she spoke forcefully about what she believes happened in her son’s last moments, and how she felt that he was “just about to do something” with his life when it was all taken away at 24.
She said she wants the officer who killed her son charged.
The Cumberland County prosecutor’s office has not released more details about how the shooting occurred since Friday night. In a statement, Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said police were chasing Fuqua on foot around 4 p.m. when at least one officer shot at him. A gun was recovered in the area, she said.
Benson questions that part of the story, pointing out that authorities have never said the gun was in his possession.
As for the pursuit, she said “very reliable sources” who were at the scene told her that Fuqua and two friends ran only because a police cruiser had pulled up to them on the sidewalk and officers had gotten out.
Two friends went one way, she said, and Fuqua ran into the dirt alley between 200 and 208 South Avenue, where he was shot.
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Benson visited the spot, marked with candles and balloons, on Saturday afternoon.
She said she had gone there when she heard about the shooting Friday afternoon, but police told her that her son was taken to the hospital and she should go there. It wasn’t until 7 p.m., three hours after he was shot, that a hospital staff member came to tell her that her son was dead.
A friend of Fuqua’s who was nearby witnessed the aftermath of the shooting, she said.
“He heard my son hollering, ‘Help me! Help me!’ and the police ran up and had their guns on him and put cuffs on him. Then they started to resuscitate him,” she said. “My son died in an alley… on the ground, with handcuffs on.”
Benson said her son went by the nickname “De Rose.” He was a quiet guy, she said, but was also an aspiring rapper who had been writing, singing and rapping since 14.
“He had just won a spot on New Jersey Got Talent,” a showcase Feb. 18 in Vineland where he would show off his skills. “I had tickets.”
She was proud that he graduated from Bridgeton High School. While court records show he had been arrested for drug possession, she said he was never in serious trouble.
“He was quiet, laid back. He was a joker,” she said, but also had a maturity that many his age do not. He had a girlfriend whom he lived with, she said, and no children.
“He came over whenever I asked him to,” she said, to check in on her and her mother, who lives next door on Ramblewood Drive.
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At the home Saturday, the phone rang several times and callers were told there were no services planned yet.
Benson said she wanted people to pray for her family and she had a message for her son’s friends and the whole community: “Please, Mama Rose doesn’t want street justice. I want court justice,” she said.
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She hopes to see the officer who shot her son charged with his killing. She echoed statements by Rev. James Dunkins of Shiloh Baptist Church in Vineland and the National Awareness Alliance in Salem County, calling for a third party investigation.
Dunkins said that would remove any question about whether the Cumberland County prosecutor conducted an impartial investigation.
He also said that while he believes the prosecutor’s office is trying to do right by those who’ve lost a loved one to a police shooting, they are often “caught in this no info zone.”
Authorities say they can’t release details because of the investigations, and that means long periods of time when mothers who’ve lost children don’t know the details of what happened.
“We’re hoping this case will be handled more forthrightly and directly,” he said.
He said he is working with several groups in the community to respond to incidents of violence, including police shootings, to help ease the suffering and “build a bridge” with law enforcement. It’s not easy to convince young people that there are a lot of good cops on the streets, he said.
In this case, they will reach out to the family and also help with any plans to hold a vigil, he said.
“We already have it in the works to call a meeting of community leaders to respond to this,” he said. “We’ll try to get calm.”
Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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