A tragic shooting unfolded at a Ramada by Wyndham hotel in Fairfield, New Jersey on Friday, October 4, leaving one man dead and another injured. The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the incident occurred shortly after 12:30 p.m. at the hotel on Two Bridges Road. Police responded to the scene and discovered two men with gunshot wounds.
Authorities later identified the victim as a Ramada hotel employee, Mohammad Sahariar, 28, of Fairfield. They pronounced him dead at the scene. They took the second victim, also an employee of the hotel and whose identity has not been revealed, to a local hospital for treatment in critical condition.
The shooting took place in the afternoon, triggering a heavy police presence around the hotel and nearby areas, including the Jose Tejas restaurant. Fairfield police issued an initial public notice warning of increased activity in the area but assured residents that there was no active shooter or ongoing threat to the community.
The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office has kept tight-lipped about the details of the incident, providing little information about a possible motive or the relationship between the victims and the shooter.
Tyrone Malcolm, 39, from Middletown, NY, was arrested on October 9 and charged with murder. He is awaiting extradition from New York. Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II and Fairfield Police Chief Anthony Manna announced the arrest.
Mohammad Sahariar’s brother, Tanjil Islam, expressed his grief on social media, saying, “I will forever miss you, my dear brother.” Islam also revealed that the family remained unaware of the circumstances surrounding the shooting. “We don’t know who shot or how it went down,” he wrote on Facebook.
Several guests at the Ramada Hotel were surprised as the violent incident unfolded. Melissa Lupinacci, a hotel guest at the time, described hearing commotion around 12:30 p.m. “I heard some shouting,” she said. “I stayed to myself; I didn’t open the door.” Lupinacci later attempted to leave her room only to find the area cordoned off with crime scene tape.
Another guest, Marie Barnhurst, was traveling with her family and arrived to find their hotel plans disrupted. Despite the alarming situation, neither guest expressed immediate concerns for their safety, considering it an isolated event. “It gives you pause,” Barnhurst added, but noted that the hotel’s non-refundable reservation policy meant she would likely continue her stay.