BELLEVILLE — A 28-year-old Newark man shot fatally outside a township strip club early Thursday morning was visiting the club just prior to the shooting, authorities confirm.
An investigation into the death of Michael Williams II by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Homicide Task Force is in its early stages, said department spokeswoman Katherine Carter.
An official account of the shooting has not been disclosed. But two men who live in a residence near where the homicide took place, and who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Williams was shot in the street outside of Wet Gentlemen's Club at the intersection of Smith Street and Belleville Avenue at approximately 2 a.m.
Another man who lives in a residence located across the street from the club said he heard the sound of people arguing in the street before four gunshots rang out.
The strip club previously made headlines in 2014 after a 39-year-old Hackensack livery cab driver was fatally shot on Route 80 shortly after leaving. A Newark couple was later arrested in connection with the killing
