Jamont Atkins, 23, was injured when a brawl broke out at Stelton Lanes bowling alley in Piscataway, N.J., early Sunday morning. He later died of his injures in hospital.
The fight involved some 250 people and broke out during a private party at the alley around 1:30 a.m., reports NBC New York. It is not yet clear what started the fight.
Atkins was found unconscious in a bowling lane, his face badly beaten, reports the Star-Ledger.
His long-time love, Shaniqua, tweeted her heartbreak: “Can’t live with no heart.”
“6 years strong, nobody has ever broken that bond and nobody will ever break it.” She posted a photo of her name tattooed on Atkins’s arm, saying “Glad you took a piece of me with you.”
The fighting spilled out of the bowling alley and into the parking lot early Sunday and people scattered when police arrived. No arrests have been made in relation to Atkins’s death, but detective Todd Ritter told the Star-Ledger “there are people of interest we’re looking at.”
“He seemed like a decent kid,” Ritter said of Atkins. “Somebody must have given somebody a look.”
According to his Facebook profile, Atkins worked at FedEx and previously worked at Newark Airport. He studied culinary arts at Malcolm X Shabazz High School and he was from Newark, N.J.
Bowling alley regular Andre Ames told ABC News it is generally a safe place: “I even brought my kids last weekend.”
Anyone with any information is asked to call Detective Todd Ritter of the Piscataway Police Department at (732) 562-2359 or Investigator Adrian Villegas of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s office at (732) 745-4428.
