The evening of August 20, 2025, over a hundred community members gathered at the New Brunswick City Council meeting to protest the recent killing of Deborah Terrell, a 68-year old Black woman who was shot by New Brunswick Police officers the morning of August 8th. Protestors filled out the block in front of the New Brunswick Municipal Courthouse to mourn, chant, and demand justice together.

A New Brunswick Documenter, Elliot Frank, spoke to a variety of attendees to ask how they were feeling, what motivated them to come out to the protest, and what response they hoped to see from the city. It quickly became clear that many people attended the protest because they had a personal connection to Terrell, who was raised in New Brunswick. Thomas Potter, a lifetime New Brunswick resident, recalled how kindly Terrell had spoken to him when he saw her around the neighborhood, saying “I’ve never seen that woman yell at anything, never.”

Many protestors wanted to emphasize how unnecessary the police response was, and how easy it was to imagine other solutions that would not have ended in the death of Terrell. According to reporting from New Brunswick Today, police were sent to Terrell’s apartment building in response to calls from neighbors that she was having a mental health crisis and walking through the hallways with a knife. A video taken by a neighbor appears to show four policemen knocking on Terrell’s door, and then pepper spraying, tasing, and fatally shooting her within seconds of her exiting her apartment. (Video here, although viewer discretion is advised)."

A former classmate of Deborah Terrell’s, Wanda Stokes, said that just because Terrell was having a mental health crisis, “they didn’t have to kill her like that.” Debra Key, who also knew Terrell, said she felt “like a sister had been killed.” She pointed out that, just a month earlier, New Brunswick police had been called to de-escalate a similar situation in her neighborhood after a six hour stand-off.

“When a person has mental health [issues], you just don’t go kill them,” she said.

One protestor had a different kind of personal connection. Dana Gavin attended in support of the Terrell family because, fourteen years ago, she had been in their same position. “Fourteen years ago, we were here, because New Brunswick cops killed my uncle, Barry Deloatch,” she said. Gavin said her experience at this protest was one of “déjà vu,” and that it was “very hard” to relive those memories. Nevertheless, she wanted to come back to support the grieving Terrell family.

The protest was supported by activists from multiple New Jersey social justice organizations. I asked Lawrence Hamm, the chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress, what changes his organization would like to see happen as a response. He called for the officers to be fired “immediately.” He also said he wanted to see the installation of a police review board with subpoena power in New Brunswick, a reform that organizations for police transparency have also fought for in Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson.

At 5pm, some protesters filed inside to present public comments at the regularly scheduled City Council meeting, while others continued to stand outside the courthouse chanting the name of Deborah Terrell and calling for justice. While City Council meetings are typically held in City Hall, this meeting was moved to the Municipal Courthouse, with officials saying that the new venue would provide more space. Police capped the meeting at 100 attendees total, and over fifty people remained outside of the meeting during its duration.

To enter the courthouse, protestors had to pass through a metal detector, and several cops guarded the entrance once the meeting was at capacity. While giving public comment during the Council meeting, Tormel Pittman, a nephew of Terrell and an activist in his own right, said he felt like these security measures served to “criminalize” the audience. Speaking to New Brunswick Documenters after the meeting, Pittman explained that the choice of venue showed that the police were assuming that the protestors would be “violent,” and that it additionally suggested a “lack of accountability.” He said, “City Council just want to get this over with," and, "they’re just trying to make this go away.”

After his public comments, Pittman left the courthouse to address the crowd of protestors who continued braving the rain. He emphasized that getting justice for his aunt was going to require patient work, long after the moment of initial rage had subsided. “You can still get things done without getting mad," he told the crowd. "You can still put the work in without yelling and screaming. And that’s what the family is going to need from you guys. Stick with us, we’re gonna stick with you.”

By Elliot Frank