Police release details in deadly shooting of East Orange basketball star
EAST ORANGE, N.J. -- Friends are mourning the death of a 16-year-old, described as a talented basketball star and an all-around terrific person.
Investigators say he was shot several times near several schools in East Orange.
As CBS2's Christine Sloan reported Tuesday, investigators are searching for the killer or killers.
Video shows Letrell Duncan playing basketball with the Garden State Bounce. His team called him "one of the crown jewels" of their program, adding "We will dearly miss him."
Duncan was shot four times on Monday afternoon as three schools were letting out. The teenager was pronounced dead at the hospital.
"He was a great basketball player, great person, individually, he was a great person, great speaker. He was always laughing and smiling. Like, you never catch Letrell without a smile on his face, always," friend Marquise Kindel said.
Surveillance video shows a crowd of school children hanging out and then they start running in an attempt to escape the gunfire.
"I turned the corner and next thing you know I see a kid lay down on the ground with blood, bleeding," a 15-year-old witness said.
The tragedy unfolded on Lincoln Street near Park, where Josephine Jenkins had just picked up her daughter from school.
"Scary, it's really scary. Teachers are scared. All these parents are scared," Jenkins said. "It's too much shootings. It's too much killing. It's too much fighting, all that."
Jenkins said government officials need to step up efforts to stop the rising violence.
"The mayor should be doing something, taking all of these guns off of the streets," Jenkins said.
East Orange Mayor Ted R. Green put out a statement, saying, "We need our children to feel safe traveling throughout our city. Anything else is unacceptable. I've been tough on crime since day one and I will remain that way, investing in more police officers and getting illegal guns off the street."
"We keep losing our young kids to senseless violence," Kindel said. "We got to stop it now, because it's going to be someone else. Whoever was there that day seeing it, it may be them."
Investigators still don't know if Duncan was the intended target. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Essex County Prosecutor's Office tip line at 1-877-TIPS-4EC or 1-877-847-7432.
Meanwhile, the heartbroken family is planning a funeral and a GoFundMe page has been set up to help them out.
