Wali Bey was laid to rest on Thursday, three days after he was fatally shot by a Newark police officer in a case that has sparked grief and outrage, calls for the officer’s firing, and frustration over the lack of an official explanation of what happened.
Later on Thursday, a lawyer representing the still-unidentified officer involved in the shooting issued a statement asserting that his client’s actions were “not only legally justified, but wholly warranted and necessary,” after he and other officers had witnessed several obvious and illegal drug transactions.”
The 11 a.m. funeral for Bey was a measure of his popularity as a lifelong resident of the city and a member of Newark’s sizable Muslim community. A crowd of several hundred mourners packed the Funeraria Las Americas, home of Islamic Funeral Services, spilling out onto Roseville Avenue…