On the evening of May 25, 2016, Willie Lee Major, a 37-year-old Plainfield resident, was fatally shot shortly after 6:45 p.m. in the 400 block of West 4th Street. Plainfield patrol units answered reports of gunfire and found Major at the scene; he was pronounced dead. Investigators determined Major was an innocent bystander and not the intended target.

A joint investigation by the Union County Homicide Task Force, the Plainfield Police Division, the Union County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Unit, and the Union County Police Department Ballistics Unit identified two suspects and tied the shooting to a feud between two local gangs, apparently in retaliation for a fatal shooting two weeks earlier. Authorities identified Diniek Forbes, 18, and Shaquille Spruiel, 23, as responsible. Forbes was arrested in June 2016 while in custody on an unrelated matter; Spruiel was apprehended in Georgia in July 2016 and both were later indicted.

Anyone with information about Willie Major, the shooting on West 4th Street, or the events leading up to that night is asked to come forward.