Surveillance video shows police searching backyard moments after child shot and killed in Newark
NEWARK, N.J. -- A Newark family is mourning the deaths of two people, including a child, killed by a suspect who investigators said was then shot and killed by police.
A fourth victim, the child's mother, survived the shooting and is recovering.
"These kids being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I loved my nephew, man," said Sharon Oliver.
Oliver's 27-year-old nephew was killed by a gunman on Wednesday night at a gathering inside a home on Johnson Avenue.
"He was in there. He was an innocent bystander," said Oliver.
The Attorney General's Office confirmed a suspect shot and killed two people, including an 8-year-old boy, inside the home. The boy died at the hospital.
Police sources said the suspect grabbed the boy and shot him in the chest as the child's mother tried to protect him. She survived by jumping out a window, the sources said.
Mayor Ras Baraka said he consoled the boy's family at the hospital.
"His mother and his grandmother and uncles grieve and will probably never ever get over this," said Baraka. "The other 8-year-olds, and 7-year-old, and 9-year-old who played baseball with him, and what they're going to feel about his death and about the precariousness of their own lives."
Surveillance video shows police in the backyard.
The attorney general said Newark Police encountered the suspect, pursued him on foot, and two officers fired their weapons, fatally wounding him.
Police sources said the suspect shot at officers. The police union said more people could have been killed if the officers didn't take necessary actions.
Baraka said drugs and weapons used in other crimes were found at the scene.
Neighbors told CBS2 they heard at least four gunshots.
"I heard a big noise. I thought it was somebody that dropped something on the floor. I didn't think anything like somebody was shooting upstairs," said the landlord of the residential building.
The landlord, who shared the surveillance video with CBS2, said a woman with a 8-year-old child moved in three weeks ago.
"I thought that was him running around, playing. I thought it was just kids playing upstairs," the landlord said.
Neighbors said it looked like there was a small party.
"I heard the siren, that was police coming around. So I sit inside the car because I don't know what is going on," said Stephen Danso.
"It's tragic. I mean, it's said in Newark that it goes on like that," said Shavon Watson-Foster. "My heart goes out, my condolences go out to the family that lost one."
"It's said when an innocent child gets killed," said Kenny Grant.
"We killing one another for no reason," said Oliver.
Baraka blamed the violence on too many guns on the streets.
"When we get to a point where we can't protect our children, then we are in a very volatile and difficult place," said Baraka.