Brick City cast member Darel Evans, 33, is shot dead in Newark after being featured as a former gang member turned anti-violence activist

A former gang member turned anti-violence activist who was featured in Brick City has been shot and killed.

Darel Evans, 33, was gunned down in Newark late Monday night and was pronounced dead at the scene, Essex County prosecutors said on Tuesday. A motive for the shooting remains under investigation.

Further details were not immediately released, including what type of weapon was used or how many assailants were involved.

Evans, a reformed Crips gang member known as Creep, was profiled in Brick City – a Peabody Award-winning documentary series set in New Jersey’s largest city by Sundance Channel – for turning his life around and for his relationship with a woman, Jayda, from the rival Bloods gang.

The series, which chronicles city officials’ and residents’ efforts to improve Newark, first aired in 2009.

The couple were also featured with their children in a follow-up Pivot TV documentary series, Jersey Strong.

Mark Benjamin, who created both shows along with partner Marc Levin, said on Tuesday: ‘It’s hard to extract yourself from the level of violence in urban America.

‘As hard as he [Evans] tried, it caught up with him. He was writing, he was doing comedy and sketches and he had different jobs.

‘He had different children from a few different women. He had lots of love to give. The street caught up with him.’