NJ officials plead for help from public after Newark mass shooting kills boy, woman
New Jersey officials on Monday identified the 10-year-old boy and 21-year-old woman killed in a mass shooting in Newark over the weekend, vowing to find the person or people responsible.
Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens said at a press briefing that Jordan Garcia, 10, and Kiyah Mae Scott, 21, were
Stephens and other Newark-area officials gave few new details about the shooting. When a reporter asked if multiple shooters were believed to be involved, Stephens said police were looking for “the shooter or shooters.” He declined to say whether the gunfire came from a vehicle and whether authorities believe the shooting was targeted.
" All I can say [is] there was a group of individuals congregated in one particular location," Stephens said. He added that police have no indication gang activity played a role in the violence and that the investigation is ongoing.
“The difficult part here is the more that we divulge, then perhaps it gives the people who are the perpetrators an opportunity to [get] some information to know where we are or what at this particular time,” he said.
The prosecutor and other officials described an all-hands effort, including manpower and technology from state and federal law enforcement, to find those responsible for the shooting.
Authorities urged the public to come forward with help and said the shooter or shooters should turn themselves in. The Essex County sheriff’s office is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.
Mayor Ras Baraka warned the shooters in a brief statement: “The community is on alert and on lookout, and we will make sure that justice is done in this community."
“You shattered families and shook an entire city. You proved nothing but your own weakness,” Essex County Sheriff Amir Jones said. “So hear me clearly, we are coming. There's no hiding. There's no running. There's nothing that will change what's coming."
Stephens stressed Monday that violent crime in Essex County and Newark — New Jersey’s largest city — are down over the last few years. He said there were 81 homicides in Newark in 2022 and 38 so far this year.
Newark Public Safety Director Emanuel Miranda said he’d been at the hospital with the victims and their families.
“To hear the yelling and the welling of those mothers in the hospital is something that I will never forget,” he said.
