Newark had a bloody last few weeks, with three vicious shootings adding to the rapidly climbing list of Brick City homicide victims. It started off on August 15, when Jihad Springer, 21, was killed with a single gunshot to the chest a few blocks from Downtown Newark, and left for dead on the street. While Springer’s death was portrayed in the media as the average murder in Newark, the killing two days later garnered massive press attention.
Early in the morning hours of August 17, 14-year-old Keith Calhoun was hanging out with his friends on a corner on 12th and 7th, all members of the Bloods. While they were congregated, two men approached them, beginning to argue with them over a girl. It was allegedly Isiah Hemphill, 18, another Blood, who pulled out a handgun and fired into the group of youths, striking Calhoun in the back and killing him.
The press coverage was heavy, with Newark Mayor Cory Booker making statements saying he was going to clamp down on crime, and articles about the lives of both boys involved, and their families. The next week, after Albert Allen, 24, was murdered in South Ward, police began to make extensive arrests, confiscating pistols, three pounds of weed, cash, and a Mac-10 submachine gun. However, their arrests seemed to be out of coincidences – running across an armed robbery, being in the right place at the right time and witnessing a gangland gun battle – and three pounds of weed and several firearms is only the top of the surface in Newark.
Also, not too far outside of Newark, a robbery in Kearny ended tragically August 18, when two armed robbers burst into Rachel Jewelers in Kearny and murdered the proprietor in front of his children. The suspects fired a killing shot into 48-year-old Xavier Egoavil’s forehead after riddling his body with bullets, and fled the scene, scarring the peaceful town of Kearny with the brutal violence of the crime. Though towns like Kearny, Belleville and Maplewood seem suburban on the outside, it’s just reality that the violence and crime of Newark is only a town away.
Down in Middlesex County, there were reports of a homicide victim found in Cheesequake State Park on August 15, but the Star-Ledger provided no details of the victim. It’s frustrating when the media makes mention of such crimes, and then offers no follow-up; nevertheless, this unidentified victim is still added to the list of victims of homicide in New Jersey.
A few miles north in the Fords section of Woodbridge, intruders burst into a house perpetrating a horrifying double shooting, leaving 29-year-old Angel Vasquez dead, and his sister injured with multiple gunshot wounds. Angel Torres of Perth Amboy, 35, and two 17-year-old minors were arrested and charged in the homicide.
The last two murders this post will cover are the shooting of a 17-year-old young man in the broad daylight of the afternoon in Camden, and the strangling death of a 4-year-old girl by her mother in their house outside Morristown. One is incredibly common – Joshua Rosa is hardly the first teenager to die by the gun in Camden – and the other is not. Mary Gonzalez is Morris County’s first homicide of 2009, the year halfway over. Jenny Erazo-Rodriguez, 33, was arrested and charged in her daughter’s murder, and with the attempted murder of another of her children. It’s unlikely that Joshua Rosa’s killer will ever be brought to justice.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Bergen County's 8th murder, domestic disputes, and a gang war claims another victim
New Jersey has seen three homicides in the last three days, all striking in different parts of the state. Two were men, one was a woman; two were young, one was old; and two were domestic disputes, while the other was a violent episode of an inner-city gang war.
On the morning of August 12, Harold Kendrick Jr., 29 years old, was shot six times while sitting in an idling car in Paterson. The assailant fled; Kendrick’s car rolled forward through the intersection of Temple Avenue and 7th, and crashed into the fence of somebody’s house. He was alive when the police found him, blood running down his shirtless chest, but died before he could be taken to the hospital.
Temple Avenue between 6th and 7th has seen a huge upswing in shootings; the week previously, another young man had been shot in the hip. The Paterson police released a statement attributing the murder to the rivalry of two “groups,” but they stopped short of calling them gangs. No suspects have been arrested so far in the investigation of Kendrick’s murder.
The investigation is no doubt helped by the gunshot detectors and cameras all throughout Paterson; whenever a gun is fired in the city, a GPS locator pinpoints it down to a few feet, and cameras on every streetlight swivel around to inspect the scene. It’s a piece of high-tech crime fighting technology that’s already seen use in East Orange and Newark, and will be incredibly helpful in capturing killers throughout Paterson.
The next day, a 30-year-old woman, Letizia Zindell, was strangled to death in her Toms River house by her former fiancée. Frank Frisco, 36, had just gotten out of jail the day before, and after killing Zindell, hung himself in his own house. Zindell died in a quiet suburban neighborhood, just blocks from the Ocean County Mall, in a tragic reminder that domestic murders can happen anywhere.
In the same vein, on Thursday a 75-year-old Cliffside Park man died after being struck in the head by his daughter. In an argument over a minor issue, Sonia Jecmenica-Castillo, 40, punched Miodrag Jecmenica in the face, causing him to have a fatal heart attack. Jecmenica-Castillo was arrested and charged with the assault; after the autopsy results, she might be charged with manslaughter.
This is Bergen County’s 8th homicide this year. I pay attention to Bergen County statistics more closely, as it’s my own county, and it’s one of the more richer and suburban counties of the state. When I was in high school, the stereotype was that anything in Bergen County below Route 4 was the “ghetto” (Hackensack, Fairview, Teaneck, Lodi, Fort Lee) and everything in Bergen County above Route 4 was the rich, quiet, safe suburbs (Saddle River, Norwood, Mahwah, Alpine, Cresskill). Sure enough, every single one of the eight murders has been south of Route 4.
This homicide in Cliffside Park is the third domestic killing, after a choking in Elmwood Park and stabbing in Little Ferry. A fatal shooting during an armed robbery in Garfield, and a gang-related stabbing in Hackensack are more ominous and vicious types of killings. Three hit-and-runs make up the rest; one being the brutal and reckless killing of an elderly woman by a fleeing felon, and the others more ‘innocent’ hit and runs, if such a phrase can be used.
Because of Bergen County’s status as my home and its fairly moderate amount of murders, at least compared to Newark, it’s an interesting microcosm for homicide in society in general. While Bergen County has the same amount of murders as Union County, it differs in that the latter’s are generally confined to inner-city Elizabeth; Bergen County’s murders are spread out all over. It should be always kept in mind that the chances of becoming a random victim of murder are fairly low; most victims know the attacker, as can be seen in all the domestic and gang-related killings. Murder by total stranger is almost unknown, especially in the inner-ring suburbs of Bergen County. I’ll be continuing to track the murders, with special attention on Bergen County. Be safe.
2009 New Jersey homicide map - http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?gl=us&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=100430255326859206461.00046c0c8bf50984defdd
On the morning of August 12, Harold Kendrick Jr., 29 years old, was shot six times while sitting in an idling car in Paterson. The assailant fled; Kendrick’s car rolled forward through the intersection of Temple Avenue and 7th, and crashed into the fence of somebody’s house. He was alive when the police found him, blood running down his shirtless chest, but died before he could be taken to the hospital.
Temple Avenue between 6th and 7th has seen a huge upswing in shootings; the week previously, another young man had been shot in the hip. The Paterson police released a statement attributing the murder to the rivalry of two “groups,” but they stopped short of calling them gangs. No suspects have been arrested so far in the investigation of Kendrick’s murder.
The investigation is no doubt helped by the gunshot detectors and cameras all throughout Paterson; whenever a gun is fired in the city, a GPS locator pinpoints it down to a few feet, and cameras on every streetlight swivel around to inspect the scene. It’s a piece of high-tech crime fighting technology that’s already seen use in East Orange and Newark, and will be incredibly helpful in capturing killers throughout Paterson.
The next day, a 30-year-old woman, Letizia Zindell, was strangled to death in her Toms River house by her former fiancée. Frank Frisco, 36, had just gotten out of jail the day before, and after killing Zindell, hung himself in his own house. Zindell died in a quiet suburban neighborhood, just blocks from the Ocean County Mall, in a tragic reminder that domestic murders can happen anywhere.
In the same vein, on Thursday a 75-year-old Cliffside Park man died after being struck in the head by his daughter. In an argument over a minor issue, Sonia Jecmenica-Castillo, 40, punched Miodrag Jecmenica in the face, causing him to have a fatal heart attack. Jecmenica-Castillo was arrested and charged with the assault; after the autopsy results, she might be charged with manslaughter.
This is Bergen County’s 8th homicide this year. I pay attention to Bergen County statistics more closely, as it’s my own county, and it’s one of the more richer and suburban counties of the state. When I was in high school, the stereotype was that anything in Bergen County below Route 4 was the “ghetto” (Hackensack, Fairview, Teaneck, Lodi, Fort Lee) and everything in Bergen County above Route 4 was the rich, quiet, safe suburbs (Saddle River, Norwood, Mahwah, Alpine, Cresskill). Sure enough, every single one of the eight murders has been south of Route 4.
This homicide in Cliffside Park is the third domestic killing, after a choking in Elmwood Park and stabbing in Little Ferry. A fatal shooting during an armed robbery in Garfield, and a gang-related stabbing in Hackensack are more ominous and vicious types of killings. Three hit-and-runs make up the rest; one being the brutal and reckless killing of an elderly woman by a fleeing felon, and the others more ‘innocent’ hit and runs, if such a phrase can be used.
Because of Bergen County’s status as my home and its fairly moderate amount of murders, at least compared to Newark, it’s an interesting microcosm for homicide in society in general. While Bergen County has the same amount of murders as Union County, it differs in that the latter’s are generally confined to inner-city Elizabeth; Bergen County’s murders are spread out all over. It should be always kept in mind that the chances of becoming a random victim of murder are fairly low; most victims know the attacker, as can be seen in all the domestic and gang-related killings. Murder by total stranger is almost unknown, especially in the inner-ring suburbs of Bergen County. I’ll be continuing to track the murders, with special attention on Bergen County. Be safe.
2009 New Jersey homicide map - http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?gl=us&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=100430255326859206461.00046c0c8bf50984defdd
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Crime update - August 2009
I apologize for not updating this blog, but I’ve been so busy with work that it’s been difficult to find the time.
The month of August has been a violent one so far for the state of New Jersey. After over a month without a single homicide, Camden has exploded in violence, with six murders in the last two weeks, with three taking place in a three block radius. On July 28, 18-year-old Albert Santana was gunned down on the street; on August 1, Joseph Jones, 40, was similarly killed with a barrage of gunfire just a block away. Six days later, 23-year-old Scott Ferguson was standing just another block away from the previous murder scene when two gunmen opened fire on him from a car and sped away.
Also in Camden, a double murder in a house near the Pennesauken border ramped up the year’s body count. Details are hazy, but after a burst of gunfire, Ramon Roman, a 16-year-old boy was dead, and a 68-year-old bystander, Juan Lopez, was dying from a wound from a stray bullet. Jose Feliciano of Camden, 24, was arrested and charged with the murders. And just two days ago on Sunday morning around 11AM, the body of Danielle Lindeborn, 22, was found shot once in the head on a Camden backroad. Her murder has not been solved.
In other inner-cities of New Jersey, the violence usually associated with the summer continues as usual. After shooting and critically wounding her boyfriend in a domestic dispute, Essex County Corrections Officer Kelly McKenith murdered her 4-month old baby before turning her firearm on herself in Newark’s south ward. Farther up north, Alkabir Diggs, 29, was shot in the chest and killed in a Newark high-rise on August 5. Another man with him was wounded with a gunshot to the shoulder. Ahmad Davis, 28, is suspected in the murder and is being searched for by authorities. Finally for Newark, one of its residents, Amar Singh Rana, 48, was shot multiple times in a robbery of his Irvington gas station over the weekend.
Also in smaller cities of New Jersey, David Rodriguez was shot and killed on August 4 in Paterson, and World War II veteran Robert Aldrich, 88, was beaten to death by a mentally unstable neighbor in his New Brunswick apartment August 4. The suspect in the latter case, Randy Collins, 33, was arrested; the Paterson murder remains unsolved.
In the outer-ring suburbs, a drunk hit and run took the life of Kristen King, a Somerset County woman killed on a rural road August 1. Also, the town of Pompton Lakes in Passaic County suffered its first murder in four years on Sunday, when a domestic dispute between a divorcing couple turned violent. Pratixabahen Patel, 35, was killed with multiple stab wounds in her Pompton Lakes condo by her husband, Jitendrab Patel, 51. He was discovered by the police in the act of stabbing his wife, but before they could arrest him, he slit his own throat with another blade. He is expected to survive his wound.
Only perhaps five minutes from my house on a road that I frequently drive, a carjacker killed an elderly woman in the early morning hours of August 8 in Palisades Park. Daniel Graham of Jersey City, 25, was being driven home by an SUV limo due to his drunkenness, and while stopped in Leonia, Graham assaulted the driver, and stole the vehicle. He continued driving south at high speeds, striking parked cars and poles before slamming into a bus stop where Sukyeol Lee, 81, was sitting waiting for a ride to church. Both Lee and Graham were killed in the violent accident.
The incidents that strike so close to me give me more pause; along with a domestic dispute homicide in Little Ferry last month and a gang stabbing in nearby Hackensack, these have been the closest murders to me, only several minutes away. Furthermore, a 17-year-old young man from my town who had attended my onetime high school in Ridgefield Park was shot in the head and killed in Paterson several weeks ago; the group of friends he was with abandoned the weapon and fled the scene. The details of his murder are sketchy, but his death was discussed in my town, and affects me personally on a deeper level than even the most tragic killing in Camden or Newark.
There have been two hundred homicides so far in 2009 – eight of these double homicides, and nine of these in self-defense. So far, the top cities for murders:
#1 Newark – 40
#2 Jersey City – 22
#3 Camden – 21
#4 Trenton – 13
#5 Irvington – 9
#6 (tie) East Orange – 5
#6 (tie) Elizabeth – 5
#6 (tie) Paterson – 5
#9 (tie) Hackensack – 3
#9 (tie) Mansfield – 3
#9 (tie) New Brunswick – 3
The top counties for murders:
Essex: 63
Camden: 25
Hudson: 25
Mercer: 14
Middlesex: 13
Passaic: 10
Union: 8
Bergen: 7
Burlington: 6
Monmouth: 6
Cumberland: 5
Atlantic: 4
Cape May: 3
Gloucester: 2
Ocean: 3
Somerset: 3
Warren: 3
Salem: 1
Sussex: 1
Hunterdon County and Morris County both have a homicide count of zero.
137 males and 53 females have been victims of homicide.
The age breakdown:
0-9: 6
10-19: 25
20-29: 75
30-39: 29
40-49: 23
50-59: 19
60-69: 3
70-79: 4
80-89: 6
90+: 1
Unknown: 6
The month breakdown:
January: 25
February: 22
March: 25
April: 20
May: 31
June: 29
July: 32
I’ll be updating this blog a lot more often now. In a week I’ll be returning to Washington DC, but still continuing to follow the news in New Jersey.
The link for the map is http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?gl=us&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=100430255326859206461.00046c0c8bf50984defdd
The month of August has been a violent one so far for the state of New Jersey. After over a month without a single homicide, Camden has exploded in violence, with six murders in the last two weeks, with three taking place in a three block radius. On July 28, 18-year-old Albert Santana was gunned down on the street; on August 1, Joseph Jones, 40, was similarly killed with a barrage of gunfire just a block away. Six days later, 23-year-old Scott Ferguson was standing just another block away from the previous murder scene when two gunmen opened fire on him from a car and sped away.
Also in Camden, a double murder in a house near the Pennesauken border ramped up the year’s body count. Details are hazy, but after a burst of gunfire, Ramon Roman, a 16-year-old boy was dead, and a 68-year-old bystander, Juan Lopez, was dying from a wound from a stray bullet. Jose Feliciano of Camden, 24, was arrested and charged with the murders. And just two days ago on Sunday morning around 11AM, the body of Danielle Lindeborn, 22, was found shot once in the head on a Camden backroad. Her murder has not been solved.
In other inner-cities of New Jersey, the violence usually associated with the summer continues as usual. After shooting and critically wounding her boyfriend in a domestic dispute, Essex County Corrections Officer Kelly McKenith murdered her 4-month old baby before turning her firearm on herself in Newark’s south ward. Farther up north, Alkabir Diggs, 29, was shot in the chest and killed in a Newark high-rise on August 5. Another man with him was wounded with a gunshot to the shoulder. Ahmad Davis, 28, is suspected in the murder and is being searched for by authorities. Finally for Newark, one of its residents, Amar Singh Rana, 48, was shot multiple times in a robbery of his Irvington gas station over the weekend.
Also in smaller cities of New Jersey, David Rodriguez was shot and killed on August 4 in Paterson, and World War II veteran Robert Aldrich, 88, was beaten to death by a mentally unstable neighbor in his New Brunswick apartment August 4. The suspect in the latter case, Randy Collins, 33, was arrested; the Paterson murder remains unsolved.
In the outer-ring suburbs, a drunk hit and run took the life of Kristen King, a Somerset County woman killed on a rural road August 1. Also, the town of Pompton Lakes in Passaic County suffered its first murder in four years on Sunday, when a domestic dispute between a divorcing couple turned violent. Pratixabahen Patel, 35, was killed with multiple stab wounds in her Pompton Lakes condo by her husband, Jitendrab Patel, 51. He was discovered by the police in the act of stabbing his wife, but before they could arrest him, he slit his own throat with another blade. He is expected to survive his wound.
Only perhaps five minutes from my house on a road that I frequently drive, a carjacker killed an elderly woman in the early morning hours of August 8 in Palisades Park. Daniel Graham of Jersey City, 25, was being driven home by an SUV limo due to his drunkenness, and while stopped in Leonia, Graham assaulted the driver, and stole the vehicle. He continued driving south at high speeds, striking parked cars and poles before slamming into a bus stop where Sukyeol Lee, 81, was sitting waiting for a ride to church. Both Lee and Graham were killed in the violent accident.
The incidents that strike so close to me give me more pause; along with a domestic dispute homicide in Little Ferry last month and a gang stabbing in nearby Hackensack, these have been the closest murders to me, only several minutes away. Furthermore, a 17-year-old young man from my town who had attended my onetime high school in Ridgefield Park was shot in the head and killed in Paterson several weeks ago; the group of friends he was with abandoned the weapon and fled the scene. The details of his murder are sketchy, but his death was discussed in my town, and affects me personally on a deeper level than even the most tragic killing in Camden or Newark.
There have been two hundred homicides so far in 2009 – eight of these double homicides, and nine of these in self-defense. So far, the top cities for murders:
#1 Newark – 40
#2 Jersey City – 22
#3 Camden – 21
#4 Trenton – 13
#5 Irvington – 9
#6 (tie) East Orange – 5
#6 (tie) Elizabeth – 5
#6 (tie) Paterson – 5
#9 (tie) Hackensack – 3
#9 (tie) Mansfield – 3
#9 (tie) New Brunswick – 3
The top counties for murders:
Essex: 63
Camden: 25
Hudson: 25
Mercer: 14
Middlesex: 13
Passaic: 10
Union: 8
Bergen: 7
Burlington: 6
Monmouth: 6
Cumberland: 5
Atlantic: 4
Cape May: 3
Gloucester: 2
Ocean: 3
Somerset: 3
Warren: 3
Salem: 1
Sussex: 1
Hunterdon County and Morris County both have a homicide count of zero.
137 males and 53 females have been victims of homicide.
The age breakdown:
0-9: 6
10-19: 25
20-29: 75
30-39: 29
40-49: 23
50-59: 19
60-69: 3
70-79: 4
80-89: 6
90+: 1
Unknown: 6
The month breakdown:
January: 25
February: 22
March: 25
April: 20
May: 31
June: 29
July: 32
I’ll be updating this blog a lot more often now. In a week I’ll be returning to Washington DC, but still continuing to follow the news in New Jersey.
The link for the map is http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?gl=us&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=100430255326859206461.00046c0c8bf50984defdd
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