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The gunman is in the wind and a grieving family was left to bury a son, brother and cousin, as the toll of lawlessness continues to mount in Passaic County’s cities. Prosecutor Camelia Valdes had little to say, other than to ask the public for help.
The bullet “was not even sent out for him,” said a friend who was with Morilla outside the Zarco Lounge around 3 a.m. Friday when their group got into a brawl with another that he said came up on them.
“They kept provoking the fight,” he said, “so we fought. Then the next thing you know I hear a loud bang and I see my boy on the floor, bleeding…. [T]he shooter was never caught.”
As morning came, witnesses said, police kept Morilla’s body draped in a blood-stained sheet in the parking lot of a strip mall next to the club at Main Avenue and Chestnut Street.
Morilla was remembered as an outstanding baseball player who could have had a shot at the major leagues. Praise from classmates and friends from both North Bergen and Cliffside Park continued to pour in to family members, who had a wake for him on Sunday.
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