Newark police shoot man while investigating stolen SUV, prosecutors say
NEWARK, N.J. -- The New Jersey Attorney General's office is investigating a police shooting that left one man critically injured and another in custody.
It happened around 8:30 p.m. Monday night. Surveillance video shows what authorities said is a police cruiser pulling up to an SUV parked at Clinton Place near Hawthorne Avenue in Newark. The SUV was reportedly stolen from Connecticut.
Two police officers approached the vehicle, arresting a man in the passenger seat and leading him away. As they were arresting the man in the passenger seat, another man hopped into the vehicle and got behind the wheel. One of the officers tried to stop the man, and a struggle ensued. The vehicle lurched backwards, then forwards, crashed into the police cruiser, sending it up on the sidewalk and into the school building, before coming to rest against a utility poll.
That's when the attorney general's office said an officer fired his weapon, hitting the driver.
"I heard the two gunshots. Then I heard the crash. Then there was so much chaos going on," Sharon Redding said. "Cops were saying it's a stolen car. Next thing you know, somebody had gotten shot. We saw them working on a young man right there."
Medical gloves and gauze could be seen on the street where EMS responded. They brough the suspect to University Hospital in critical condition. Authorities haven't released his name.
The two officers were also treated for minor injuries and released.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said the suspects are from Queens.
"A tragedy all around"
"This is a tragedy all around. When an incident such as this happens, it is traumatic for all involved, and its effect ripples out through the community. Our focus will be on providing comfort, relief, and recovery to all those affected and to deter the kind of unlawful actions that lead to these kinds of incidents," Baraka said.
Neighbors call the incident upsetting, but not surprising.
"Where I live right here, I constantly see stolen cars come through here, 'cause I'm right near 78," Redding said.
"This is the norm that's going on now. The young are not given any guidance, especially around this area," another person said.
The attorney general's office is now investigating, as it does with all incidents that occur during an encounter with law enforcement that results in serious injury or death.