Newark Suffers 30 Shootings in the Blink of an Eye
By Thomas Ellis II
It has been a very violent few weeks and, months in the city of Newark, but in July, the violence was off the hook. The shootings and killings have escalated for some reason.
Not only have the shootings and violence increased, but several victims of the shootings were women. In a climate where people all over are saying “Black Lives Matter” since when did we start shooting, stabbing, and carjacking women in the community?
July 13, 2020: at around 6:30 pm a male was shot inside Ivy Hill Park. The condition of the victim was unknown, and the shooter fled the scene. Also that day, there was a shooting at 161 Garside; the NPD found shell casings but no victim.
July 26th: at around 10:30 pm a 21-year-old female was shot and killed in Bradley Courts. The gunman fired several rounds, striking 13 other people and fatally injuring the woman.
July 28th: a male was stabbed to death at Penn Station. Also that day, three people was shot in the North Ward in the 100 block of Riverside Courts. One male was shot in the chest, and the police found two more victims that were shot in the leg.
There was a shooting at the Georgia King Village complex while children and residents were outside taking in a nice summer day.
While writing this story, I noticed that several gunshot victims were self-transporting themselves or had someone drop them off at the various hospitals in the city. One thing that people need to careful of is that if a person has been shot and you move them or try to rush them to the hospital before the ambulance arrives you could be doing more damage to the victim than good. The number one reason is because the bullet(s) can travel in the body depending on where a person is shot.
During the last week of July, there were over 30 shooting incidents throughout the city, which truly caused the shooting stats to rise not to mention the murder stats for all those who were killed during the past 60 days.
The sad part of the majority of these senseless shootings is that in many instances the shooter or shooters fled the scene with many of them not getting caught for their act. It does not make the community any safer when people know or heard of people that have shot up a block or complex, and no one says anything. All that does is put more people at risk, and allows the shooter(s) to roam free to possibly commit another shooting or murder somewhere in the city.
Now, there were too many shootings in July to include in this article, with several families still reeling from the pain, and hurt from the loss of a loved one or their loved one being shot.
The shootings and violence have continued during the month of August. On August 1, a male was shot on Grumman Ave around 6:50 p.m. Again, this was another shooting victim that transported himself to the hospital. Also that day, a woman was found stabbed senselessly in the North Ward of Newark. Over the past few weeks there’s been an uptick in the stabbings in the City.
August 2nd: a 31-year-old Lamar Rutherford of Irvington was shot and killed on South 8th Street and 14th Avenue. There is a small memorial shrine with t-shirts and stuffed animals on a tree near the area he was murdered.
August 4th: There was a shooting in the South Ward. The incident happened around 100 Willoughby Street, in which the victim was shot in the head.
It’s really a shame, the level of violence that have been going on in Newark, with no protests, rallies, or community leaders, or church pastors speaking out. Newark’s violence is off the hook.
Back in the day, if there was this many shootings and killings going on in the city I can remember when several antiviolence groups and organizations would be shutting down the city, screaming at the top of their lungs, “Stop the Violence,” “End the Violence,” but it has been very silent. Many of the groups or leaders are focusing on other things and it looks like the violence have been put on the back burner.
With several of the shootings in the city, there have been drive-bys with people just pulling up in a car or cars and spraying bullets at their target or targets, but in the crossfire, they are hitting and injuring incident people. In several shootings the police recover a high number of shell casings on the block, in the street or on the grounds of the complex.
In response to the Newark violence, there will be a Zoom presentation with questions and answers, with the NPD Captains and the Public Safety Director on Friday evening. Let’s hope the residents ask some serious questions on how to make Newark a safer city, because there’s been too much Newark violence.
