New Jersey Teen Killed by Stray Bullet While Carrying Home Groceries to His Grandmother

The community of Paterson, New Jersey, is mourning the death of an innocent 18-year-old who was killed by a stray bullet while carrying groceries home to his grandmother.

According to a press release from Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Chief Ibrahim Baycora, Robert Cuadra was helping his grandmother bring groceries inside her home Wednesday evening when two men started shooting at one another across the street. Cuadra was caught in the crossfire, suffering a bullet wound to the head.

He was taken to Saint Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson, where he was pronounced dead.

As a high school honors student at Harp Academy in Paterson, Cuadra took college classes at Rutgers University and earned a four-year scholarship to Montclair State University. 

“The hearts of everyone in the Paterson Public Schools community are broken by the violent loss of this promising young man,” Superintendent Eileen Shafer said in a statement Thursday. “Robert Cuadra was a dedicated honors student who looked forward to starting the next chapter of his life in college this fall.”

Shafer continued, “Robert cared for his family, and the reports that he was fatally shot while delivering groceries to his grandmother’s home speak to his character and add to the bitterness of his being taken away from us.We pray that Robert’s aunt, his grandmother, his mother, and the rest of his family find comfort during this most difficult time. May we all resolve to end the senseless violence that has taken so many good people like Robert.”