Attorney General Identifies the Man Killed in the Moonachie Police Shooting as Roberto Castro-Quinonez, 30, of California

The state's account of the Moonachie shooting now has a name in it. The Attorney General's Office has identified the man who died during an encounter with New Jersey State Police detectives on Wednesday, October 28 as Roberto Castro-Quinonez, 30, of Bakersfield, California, in an update on its investigation read by this desk. The identity of the detective who fired is not being released at this time, the office said.

According to the Attorney General's preliminary account, State Police detectives in plain clothes were conducting a criminal investigation at about 5:15 p.m. in the area of Gotham Parkway, near West Commercial Avenue in Moonachie, when Castro-Quinonez approached one of the detectives. An interaction ensued, a second detective arrived to assist, and shortly thereafter one detective discharged his duty weapon two times, striking Castro-Quinonez. Officers attempted medical aid; he was pronounced deceased at 5:44 p.m.

What happens next is set by law. A 2019 statute, N.J.S.A. 52:17B-107(a)(2), requires the Attorney General's Office — not the State Police — to investigate any death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in an official capacity, and that investigation is the one now under way. Based on the Attorney General's releases, NorthJersey.com counts the Moonachie death as at least the seventh fatal police shooting in New Jersey in 2026. The AG's office has released no further findings, and this desk reports none: why Castro-Quinonez, a California man, was in Moonachie, and what passed between him and the detectives before the shots, are questions the official investigation has not yet answered in public.