Suspect Charged In Fatal Shooting Of NJ High School Student Due In Court
PATERSON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- An 18-year-old charged in the slaying of a former classmate hours after the victim graduated from a New Jersey high school faces arraignment Monday.
Casey Cole is held on $2 million bail, charged with felony murder, robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery.
Authorities said 18-year-old Isaac Rinas drove Cole to East 18th and Fair Street in Paterson after Rinas received his diploma from Wayne Valley High School on Wednesday.
Police say a man got in the vehicle, brandished a handgun and ordered both men out. When Rinas and the gunman got out of the car, the gunman shot Rinas in the neck and took off, police said.
"Everyone's going to remember Isaac as the kid who came to school hoping to make them smile every day," friend P.J. Chak said at a candlelight vigil for Rinas last week.
Passaic County chief assistant prosecutor Michael DeMarco told The Record newspaper Cole is not accused of being the gunman and that the suspect remains at large.
Cole's attorney, Joseph Afflito Jr., says his client did not plan a robbery that went awry.
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