Town Watch by Walter Elliott
NEWARK – City police detectives have had both a 23-year-old man and a 15-year-old girl, accused of shooting a nine-year-old girl in her home on June 30, in custody since July 3.
Nazir Cruz, 23, of Newark was arrested after what Newark Public Safety Director Brian O’Hara called “round-the-clock detective work,” Saturday. The 15- year-old girl was arrested near the Wynona Lipman Gardens scene June 30.
Both Cruz and the girl were each charged with five counts each of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm for an illegal purpose, three counts of endangering the welfare of a child and a count each of possessing a weapon without a license, conspiracy and burglary by remaining in the building.
O’Hara said that the first NPD units responded to a call of a shooting on the 400 block of Holiday Court 5:25 p.m. that Wednesday. They found a nine-year-old girl, with a bullet wound each on her left calf and right foot, near her townhouse at 5:32 p.m. The victim was rushed to Newark’s University Hospital, where she was admitted in stable condition.
The girl, her 19 and 16-year-old siblings and a 15-year-old boy who was visiting said that Cruz and the 15-year-old girl entered the house – and one of them fired at them with a handgun. The 15-year-old suspect had had a previous argument that turned into a fight.
O’Hara said that the girl suspect was found wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet. She had been wearing the bracelet since her arrest regarding a June 6 carjacking and release.
Wynona Lipman Gardens was built in 2002 and is owned by the Newark Housing Authority Its 200 two-story units replaced the 1,600-unit, 13-story, eight-building 1956-94 Christopher Columbus projects.
“Dye Pack” Bank Robber Caught
It took NPD detectives about 48 hours to find and arrest a man who had robbed $2,500 from a Central Ward bank July 3. The man was easy to spot on nearby surveillance recordings once the dye pack a teller had included exploded before he could cross Springfield Avenue.
Employees at the CapitalOne Bank at 487 Springfield Ave. said that a man entered their branch at 10 a.m. Saturday, wrote a note on the back of a withdrawal slip and handed that to a teller.
The slip read: “I have a gun give me all the money from the register please, and no one will get hurt.”
The teller gave the suspect $2,300 cash pls another in a dye bag. That bag emitted a plume of red smoke, causing the suspect to flee north on Blum Street.
O’Hara announced Monday that a detective arrested Esau Grant, 27, of Newark by Broad Street and Prudential Drive. Grant is being held in the Essex County Jail on a count each of robbery, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession thereof for an illegal purpose.
The CapitalOne Bank branch was originally built as a KFC restaurant.
IRVINGTON – The family of two Rahway brothers is planning their funeral while ECPO detectives search for the shooter who had opened fire on them during a July 3 block party.
Neighbors around 38 Montrose Terrace told arriving Irvington police and the ECPO Major Crimes Task Force said they were holding a cookout when the suspect began shooting around 11:45 p.m. Montrose is among the one block rungs of a north-south stepladder framed by Eastern Parkway and Grove Street.
The witnesses said they first thought they were hearing firecrackers – until the smoke cleared. It was then when they saw Malik McCalliter, 38 and Tarik Barnes, 42 lying on the front and back parts of a pickup truck.
Neighbors applied CPR to McCalliter and Barnes until first responders’ arrival. Medics rushed them to Newark’s University Hospital – where they had died shortly afterward.
EAST ORANGE – Last rites for former Councilwoman Sharon Fields, 73, were given here at the New Vision Full Gospel Baptist Church before some 150 mourners July 7. They included 37 members of Fields’ family, 22 East Orange police officers, 11 recent and current City Council members and a range of local, county, state and federal dignitaries with connections to her.
Those who recollected Fields at the pulpit – including Mayor Theodore “Ted” Green, Assemblyman Tomas Giblin (D-Montclair) and Cong. Donald M. Payne, Jr. (D-Newark) – consistently remembered Fields as an honest, compassionate and humorous person who ranked her family and the voiceless alongside her public and private work.
Fields, who was born in New York City May 5, 1948, died in University Hospital June 27. The New York business school graduate and former administrator at the Ogilvy and Mather advertising agency moved to East Orange with her daughter Nicole to open Nikki’s Lingerie in Orange.
Fields parlayed a position with the Seton Hall Law School Legal Education Opportunity Program to become an administrator in Newark Public Schools and several Essex County posts. The East Orange Democratic Committee’s Fourth Ward district leader and chairwoman was appointed by Mayor John S. Hatcher onto the Rent Leveling Board and, later, the East Orange Parking Authority.
Fields was appointed to fill Zachary Turner’s unexpired Fourth Ward term in 2005. Voters elected her to a full four-year tern in 2008 and re-elected her in 2011. The East Orange Football Team volunteer worked with Wyclef Jean in their 2010 Haitian Earthquake relief drive and held regular Thanksgiving dinner and coat drives.
Granddaughters Fallon and Skylar, companion Ernest and great-grandchildren Quadir and Azz’ure are also among her survivors. Her visitation, arranged by Westfield’s Plinton-Curry Funeral Home, was held here 6-8 p.m. July 6.
ORANGE – Funeral services for city native and longtime ECPO attorney Shelton McCall, 60, has been set for the Roseville Presbyterian Church 11 a.m. July 9. McCall, of late a West Orange resident, had died June 30.
Shelton L. McCall, Jr., who was born here Oct. 10, 1960, left to pursue a law degree after graduating with the Orange High School Class of 1978. He returned to eventually become Assistant Essex County Prosecutor in May 1998. He retired in May 2018 after 25 years and a month’s time.
McCall, in retirement, was a Rutgers Newark Law School instructor. “race and Crime” was among his taught courses.
McCall led Samson Lodge No. 66 of the Free and Accepted Masons as its 48th Worshipful Master 2019-20. The lodge is affiliated with the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge, both of Newark.
SOUTH ORANGE / WEST ORANGE – A Wyoming intersection in the village has been renamed after a township boy who had died in a traffic accident there 10 years to the day.
Some 70 people came to the intersection of South Wyoming and Lenox avenues June 11 to more than hold an annual 2:45 p.m. moment of silence for the late Nikhil Badlani.
Members of Badlani’s family and the Nikhil Badlani Foundation were joined by State Assembly Members Mila Jasey (D-South Orange), and John McKeon (D-West Orange) and former Village Trustee Steve Schnall for the unveiling of Nikhil Badlani Way.
Badlani, 11, a West Orange Gregory Elementary School student was a passenger in father Sunil’s car along South Wyoming when they were struck by a Toyota Prius minivan that had run an eastbound Lenox stop sign.
The impact overturned the Baldani car; a third car was involved. Nikhil later died in a local hospital. An investigation found that the Prius driver was distracted and missed the top sign.
The accident caused Sunil and mother Sangeeta to start the NBF to pass traffic laws and combat “driving while distracted.” Their greatest accomplishment was in getting a state law passed in 2015 requiring the NJ Motor Vehicle Commission to ask new drivers on tests about the dangers of disregarding traffic laws. The family and foundation has held concerts, walks and annual moments of silence for Nikhil.
“There’s a big stop sign with lights,” said Sunil Badlani during the ceremony. “That’s for all of the drivers, walkers, runners and school children. Now, it’s Mikhil’s Way.”
MAPLEWOOD – Mayor James McGehee updated the community on Moussa Fofana’s murder investigation July 2 – some 48 hours after a “Justice for Moussa” march was held and over $44,000 has been raised for a reward fund.
McGehee, in his Friday open letter, asserted that hunting for Fofana’s shooter or shooters is “a top priority for the ECPO and the Maplewood Police Department.
“This is very much an active investigation,” continued the mayor. “There has not been a stoppage, slow down or delay in any efforts to find the actor(s) responsible for this horrific and senseless act.”
McGehee added that he has had “frequent contact” with Acting Prosecutor Theodore “Ted” Stephens II, “daily contact” with Maplewood Police Chief Jim DeVaul and “near-daily contact” with mother Hawa Fofana. It is not known, however, how often Stephens and his officed have kept in touch with the Fofana family.
The mayor’s briefing may be seen as a response to calls for justice that came from Hawa, Moussa friend Zebrai Nakyah Carlisle and Imam Sheick Swaray of Newark’s Masjid Fallahee during June 30’s rally at Columbia High School’s Ritzer Field. Former Mayor Fred Profeta announced that the reward fund had reached $44,237 before most marched to Underhill Field – where Moussa was shot June 6.
“It makes no sense that some people here know what happened and aren’t talking,” said Carlisle. “If this is you, shame on you.”
BLOOMFIELD – Mayor Michael Venezia and the Township Council may take a final vote on allowing Cannabis-Based Businesses within its limits as early as their July 19 meeting.
Bloomfield’s elders had passed Resolution 9436, limiting allowed CBBs, on its introduction at their June 28 meeting. That session had scheduled at least a July 19 public hearing on the pending legislation.
R-9436 will allow what state law classifies as Class 5 retailers: sellers of cannabis products and related items. Those businesses would be limited to the Central Business District and “the B-2 Neighborhood Business District.”
The State Legislature, responding to the Nov. 2 passage of a voter referendum allowing recreational marijuana and CBBs, created six classes of farming, wholesaling, retailing and transportation.
Gov. Phil Murphy, on signing the state law Feb. 22, gave municipalities until Aug. 22 to allow all, some or no CBBs for an initial five-year period.
Glen Ridge, Nutley and Livingston have banned CBBs. Orange has a ban bill tabled. West Orange is among those towns holding public discussions.
MONTCLAIR – The township’s ambulance director is midway through his two-week, 1,277-mile call in Surfside, Fla. through July 13.
Montclair Ambulance Unit Medical Director Dr. Chris Valerian got the call to come to the Champlain Towers South’s collapsed wing on July 1 by NJ EMS Task Force-1. The task force is an elite group trained to travel to and assist at disaster zones across the country.
Dr. Valerian is being deployed with the task force to help in the rescue effort. His role is to help keep the team healthy and well. There are among hundreds of first responders probing for signs of life among the debris pockets.
Valerian, on his return, will have some stories to tell. He, the task force and other rescuers will have endured the effects of Tropical Storm Elsa, whose eye was anticipated to cross north of the Miami suburb through Central Florida July 7-8.
Rescuers have also had to halt their search for survivors and/or remains twice in the last week. The first was for 13 hours July 1 so that engineers could check the stability of the Towers’ standing wing. The second halt was for the 10:30 p.m. July 4 implosion of the remaining 12-story building.
The seaside section of Champlain Towers South, a 40-year-old condominium partially collapsed at 1:25 a.m. June 24, killing at least (32) people, as of July x, and injuring 11 others. First responders have been searching for another (117) people who were reported as missing.
BELLEVILLE – Naomy DePena made history by taking an oath of office before Mayor Michael Melham, the Township Council, her family, Assemblyman Jamal Holley and North Arlington Mayor Dan Pronti just after 12:20 p.m. July 1.
Holley (D-Roselle) swore in DePena as Belleville’s latest Deputy Mayor – and the first while as a Latina American.
Melham and the Township Council, just minutes before in Town Hall’s Council Chamber, unanimously approved DePena’s one-year appointment. DePena also remains an at-large councilwoman, which she was sworn into three years to the day. DePena ran on Melham’s A Better Belleville ticket.
The former Naomy Fernandez, whose parents are of Puerto Rican and Dominican heritage, used to spend her childhood summers with extended family here until Rev. Luis and Teresa Fernandez moved to Belleville for good.
DePena and her husband own and operate Zentai Martial Arts and After School Program here in the Valley section and in North Arlington The Soho mother of two and former teacher is an ordained minister and serves as a mentor for at-risk youth.
“For the children that look like me or are minorities that are saying, ‘What could I accomplish when I grow up?’ they seek representation,” said DePena. “They can look at me and see someone who’s like them who is in this leadership role.”
NUTLEY – Municipal property owners here can go back some two weeks to find out why their July 1 Third Quarter 2021 tax rate has risen five percent to $3.851 per $100,000 of an average house’s assessed value.
The Township Commissioners unanimously approved $3.851 as the Third Quarter’s estimated tax rate at their June 15 meeting.
Revenue and Finance Commissioner Thomas J. Evans had explained that Nutley was among other New Jersey municipalities who had applied to the state for transitional aid. That aid is usually announced and released with the latest state budget.
Although the State Legislature approved and Gov. Phil Murphy signed the state’s 2021-22 budget before the June 30 deadline, the Essex County Board of Taxation reported that there was a delay in the transitional aid’s release. That delay prevented the county taxation board to certify 2021-22 tax rates – which spilled back to Nutley and other municipalities.
Nutley’s $3.851 estimated rate is based on an estimated 2021 $125.3 million tax levy. The levy is almost $6 million more than last year. This estimated rate does not apply to the Nutley Board of Education and Essex County’s parts of the quarterly tax bill.
