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A brutal crime took the lives of three young people and injured one more in a Newark schoolyard on Saturday night, saddening and angering the community. Twenty-year-old Iofemi Hightower, 20-year-old Dashon Harvey, and 18-year-old Terrance Aerial were "lined them up against a wall and forced...to kneel" before being shot in the head, according to Newark police.
Aerial's sister Natasha was also with them, but she was shot first in another area. She survived a bullet passing through her face and police also found her with knife wounds to her head. She is now in fair condition at a hospital, and authorities believe her recovery will be essential to the investigation.
Police believe that the four friends, who were hanging out at the Mount Vernon School, were approached by a group of men who wanted to rob them. Newark Police Director Garry McCarthy says that the four realized they were in the danger, "There were text messages back and forth between the victims: 'Let's get out of here.'"
Terrance and Natasha Aerial, Hightower, and Harvey were all students or soon-to-be students at Delaware State University. Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow emphasized that none had police records, "They were good kids." From the Star-Ledger:
Terrance Aeriel, 18, had been preaching in his church for three years and was working this summer with children at a Newark community center.Newark Mayor Cory Booker said (and see video), "These kids were success stories," but many in the community believe Booker has failed in making Newark safer. Donna Jackson of Take Back Our Streets said, "It's appalling that (Booker) will allow bodies to keep falling on the streets of Newark." Booker said, "It's obvious that I'm not to blame for this, but I'm taking personal responsibility. This is just not acceptable. This breaks the heart of our city."Iofemi Hightower, 20, had finally gotten her scholarship to Delaware State University and just started a job at an assisted living facility.
Dashon Harvey, 20, was named Mr. Junior at Delaware State and wanted to become a social worker after graduation.
The police are offering a $20,000 reward, but the NY Times notes that "Witness intimidation and fear of retaliation has stymied law enforcement efforts to combat violence in communities across Essex County, and particularly in Newark, where drug trading and gangs fuel most of the crimes." In May, the Times examined the issue of uncooperative witnesses to violent crimes; take a look at these graphs that chart crimes and arrests over time (homicides are trending up).
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Keep it real, don't snitch!
I hope you're kidding with the snitching comment.
If you are... this goes to anyone who would say that honestly.
You're a fuckhead and the most worthless peice of shit that exists in our country. I understand that you don't want to put your own lives in danger by revealing someone who you witnessed do something like KILL THREE KIDS. But what I don't get is that you can call the police COMPLETELY annonymously. OK so you don't trust the cops, but you trust the people running around shooting up your people???????
I am sick and fucking tired of that phrase. That phrase is what keeps people who kill little fucking children on the street. If it was your sister or brother or mother or father, would you not want the killer to do time?
Fuck you and your catch phrase. Fuck Cameron. Not only is he a shitty role model, but he's also a shitty rapper.
Grow the fuck up, get an education, and learn to look after the human race, not just your selfish ass self. Better yet, turn the gun on yourself then no one would have to worry about backlash from "snitching"
And that, folks, is why crimes like these will continue to occur. It's ignorant people like that who willingly act as accomplices to the act by refusing to rid our communities of criminals out of some warped sense of loyalty. How about showing some respect for these young people who have lost their lives and the community that has lost the potential that they represented.
Donna Jackson is an idiot. As if Mayor Booker WANTS people to get shot left and right in his city...
This also reminds me of the story I read some time back about people getting angry with Booker because he himself is not providing jobs to people because they voted for him (as if it was a mayoral duty to do so).
I swear some people have a warped sense of reality.
The murder of three young people, execution style, in Newark is a direct reflection of America's, indeed the West's, gun culture. The criminal culture is closely associated with permissive sexual morals and fast vanishing ethics, a neo-liberal attitude to individual liberties and freedoms and drug trafficking. This culure has been established by a system of education that keeps out of its ambit character development and spirituality of the individuals, and even the Church with its ever-diluting propaganda based on re-interpretations of what Christ originally said, supports such culture. It will take the severest kind of heart-searching if the West, especially America, wants to stop a society's degeneration before it becomes total and irreversible.
The murder of three young people, execution style, in Newark is a direct reflection of America's, indeed the West's, gun culture. The criminal culture is closely associated with permissive sexual morals and fast vanishing ethics, a neo-liberal attitude to individual liberties and freedoms and drug trafficking. This culure has been established by a system of education that keeps out of its ambit character development and spirituality of the individuals, and even the Church with its ever-diluting propaganda based on re-interpretations of what Christ originally said, supports such culture. It will take the severest kind of heart-searching if the West, especially America, wants to stop a society's degeneration before it becomes total and irreversible. I am an Indian, but want to point out that India too is rapidly coming under the impact of his culture due to the misuse of technologies, especially of communication and information and journalism mostly operated by English-educated writers who have long since abandoned any respect for the eternal living ideals and principles which in fact are good for the entire world. Beginning with the present generation, India will soon be on a par, in terms of cultural degeneration, within a few generations. Thus it is high time for the whole world to act responsibly and rekindle its spiritual flame.
Please don't snitch. Only sissys would snitch. Please keep killing minorities. Black on black and brown on brown crime just makes my work easier. Keep selling your people crack-rock, keep concerning yourselves with "bling" rather than what is going on in your government. Keep contributing to a pop culture that dehumanizes others, degrades your women, and destroys your sense of empathy. Please pay more attention to sideshows (like the renaming of streets or the symbolic burying of an "evil" word.) than to the conditions in your schools and the changes in laws that are sending more of your people to prison than to college. Please keep it up, we are behind you all the way. All the way to the hangin' tree.
Sincerely
The Ku Klux Klan
There is only so much Cory Booker can do. He can only put SO many cops on the streets. The citizens of Newark just need to get their shit together, get off their lazy asses and become a civilized society. Don't wait for someone else to come in and fix your problem. Do you your damn self!!!!
7: Wow, where'd that come from? I could sit here and refute just about every one of those, but what would be the point?
That said,
This is really really sad. These kids were good kids .
My heart goes out to their families.
@9, #7 here. Said in Homer Simpson voice "In case you couldn't tell Marge, I was being IRONIC."
this is a really sad story. they weren't even out that late, just trying 2 enjoy a summer night outside.
What has Booker done to make Newark safer? He is a failure as mayor as quality and importance of life in Newark keeps spiraling downwards.
#5/6: "American/Western" culture? There are plenty of places in America where people almost never shoot each other. And there are other countries in the West that are both far less violent and far more secular than the USA. Try again.
[12], "spiraling downwards" relative to the 20 blood-soaked years that Sharpe James oversaw? Are you suggesting that Newark's criminals would behave themselves if they had a fellow crook in the mayor's office again? Give me a break.
Pretty sure the Klansman was using sarcasm, as was #1.
I know I am missing the point in this tragedy, but I am seriously confused about how and when these kids had time to text-message each other.
#1 here, and yes, it was sarcasm.
#2, fuck you. What the hell do you know?
I completely agree with you in that our society is being destroyed by this mentality, but unfortunately, snitching can get you and your family killed. And it has happened, on many occasions. Sure, you can call the cops anonymously, but on the off chance that they follow up, or find out that you're the person that called... its just not worth it. You're endangering your family and friends because these people are ruthless. If the community (including the police) could provide some protection to those who speak out, it would be a different story. I personally would like to believe that I am not one to keep quiet to myself, but I would never look down upon someone else who wants to keep their family safe. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/nyregion/27precinct.html?ex=1338004800&en=b3f384713e5fba73&ei=5124&partner=newsvine&exprod=newsvine
WNYC is reporting there are protests outside Newark City Hall right now demanding Cory Booker resign. Apparently he was directly responsible for the murders and the stop-snitching movement...
http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F00B16FA3B5A0C7A8CDDAE0894DF404482
http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F00B16FA3B5A0C7A8CDDAE0894DF404482
No person in their right mind goes to Newark-- no matter what time of day-- just to hang out...
I've heard of PSE&G maintenance workers being shot at as they try to repair Newark street lights (that drug dealers constantly destroy so they can conduct their crimes & drug deals in obscurity)...
Hmmm, something doesn't sound right here...
This IS saddening and angering.
That being said, "saddening and angering" really have no place in the first sentence. They are just kinda sitting there. What a sad, lonely pair of grammatical orphans!
[22]: Unfortunately, if you are one of the many who live in Newark, you're exposed to its dangers regardless of how sane you are.
And it's disgusting how the Newark political establishment is already trying to use this to their advantage. Rats playing king-of-the-mountain on the garbage heap...
Newark is a cesspool. I grew up and went to school there. I had to drop out in HS so I wouldn't end up dead. You would think the city officials would be able to tap into their wealth of proximity to NY and infrastructure and do something to make it more livable, but instead it continues to decline to below the baseline of a 3rd world area.
And yes, guns should be illegal to buy and sell in NJ. It would at least make a small impact. Look at Camden, Trenton, Atlantic City, Newark...how many gun deaths are there?
I'm with #2.
#1, you made your statement, and then you seem surprised at the fallout. Not only are you an idiot, you're naive as well.
It doesnt matter if it's illegal to buy and sell in NJ-a lot of the guns come up from Virginia and the Carolinas and are sold, bartered what have you in the underground economy. So you either have gun restrictions nationwide, make gun trafficking laws airtight and enforce them to the fullest extent of the law, or any law passed up in NJ is fairly toothless.
Newark is a tragedy all around. So sad. And I dont know if it can be turned around.
When I saw the news last nite, my heart was broken. Good African American kids killed for no reason, by thugs most likely gang members. But, what is disheartening to me- is members of the community who want Corey Booker's head on a platter. He is one man, and for someone to hold him responsible is crazy, he could not stop this senseless killing. The problem with Newark is that they expect someone to come riding in on a white horse and change everything overnight and it's not going to happen, it takes the community, and unfortunately the community doesn't take the necessary steps to correct the problems. I am also appalled at the fact that our major newspapers with the exception of the Star Ledger chose not to highlight this incident on the front page, Glavine should not be front page news, attention to why were four bright kids shot, 3 of them DEAD!!! should be.
It's much easier to blame the mayor of Newark for the senseless slaughter of three promising young people rather than coming up with an actual solution. We need to concentrate on implementing policies that will fix this broken city (broken way before Booker) rathen than looking for s scapegoat. This sad story just goes to show how truly stupid people can be.
newark is waiting for the next katrina to happen.
if people don't want to help themsleves they surely can't expect the government to do everything for them.
sad, sad, sad.
so if there were no guns, does that mean there would be no homicides? or would that just mean these three would have died from getting their throats cut instead? check out what nutso Scots do when they aren't fixing the warp drives on the Enterprise http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4257966.stm
(talk about getting Medieval)
There are enough gun laws already in Jersey, and they obviously haven't helped. I have $5 that says whoever shot these kids could not and did not buy or carried the gun(s) legally in New Jersey. (Did you know BB guns are classified as 'firearms' in Jersey? You need registration and a license before you can poke your eye out.)
But banning guns entirely won't help either. The Brits banned guns and what they get now is higher incidents of violent crime and particularly home invasions (since they know your law-abiding victim will not be armed and any two of them, armed or not, can take you out, Jackie Chan or not). Check out the exchange and the links herein http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-dustup25apr25,0,5160196.story
All that's left is to get totalitarian, i.e. confiscation and setting aside the 4th Amendment for a week or two while the cops stop and frisk every person they see and every car that passes their borders.
The NY Times article above says no written exams are required for police promotions in Newark, why not?? Racially discriminatory or something?
Man...sad. I hate to say it, but it's true: black people seem to be keeping themselves down better than The Man ever could.
Then again, it might be more fair to say that POOR people are keeping themselves own even better than The Man could, because you've got these white trash rednecks like the guys who broke into that Connecticut home, too.
I remain the only card carrying liberal that says, let the cops and courts kill 'em off and we'll weed out the genetic loser mouth-breathers, white, black, brown, green, purple...across the board.
#18...
#2 here...
Isn't getting one more of these assholes off the street increasing the chances that your family will be safe???
I see your point. I've heard it from the kids I teach in Bed-Stuy. I am just sick of hearing stories of kids who have so much potential being gunned down with plenty of witnesses around and NO ONE can even describe the shooter. Have some fucking respect for your community. Develop a watch group, a block association. Meet regularly to discuss the options. Have a person who is willing to call in descriptions and not afraid of the reprocussions call for everyone who sees something. I don't know. I think saying that it's ok to watch someone get killed and not say anything about it for the fear that something will happen to your family is a fucking cop out. Something IS happening to your family, they're fucking afraid to walk around on the streets alone at night. Come on. Be more convincing.
@Armchair_warrior
Newark is already in the mist of their own Katrina. They just haven't realized it just yet. It's like a slow boil of a pot of water. You keep adjusting your tolerance for these sort of things till either you get out of there or you become the next victim.
It is so sad to see the future leaders of tomorrow cut-down in their prime for no reason.
It is however more APPALLING to witness a gruesome crime and turn the other way like you saw nothing.
Some say, if you snitch you die (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/nyregion/27precinct.html?ex=1338004800&en=b3f384713e5fba73&ei=5124&partner=newsvine&exprod=newsvine)
A wise man once told me that you do not condone what you do not like and it is also ones civic responsibility (not only to your community at large but most importantly to yourself) to report a crime
We need not wait till the crime is close to home before we do the right thing.
Yes, the cops are often quick to write out tickets rather than solve murders but isn’t it better and a whole lot easier to play one part by contributing positively towards the apprehension of a dangerous criminal than keeping quiet and walking away from a crime scene?
The likes of Dashon Harvey, Iofemi Hightower would be alive today if a coward had gotten rid of their killers in the past. It takes a lot (of senselessness, bitterness and MOST LIKELY WEED/DRUGS) for one to kill three young and promising kids execution style!
Blaming the problems of today on the government, drugs, gun violence, etc is just a way of evading and begging the question. Until meaningful jobs are created thereby reducing (if not eliminating) abject poverty from the society, our hopes of a better tomorrow will continue to diminish.
Del State Will Miss You,
Rest in Peace.
What has Booker done to make Newark safer? He is a failure as mayor as quality and importance of life in Newark keeps spiraling downwards.
I guess you are one of those 'stop snitching' fools that want Booker's head on a platter everytime a tragedy occurs.
I live in a "nice" part of Newark and I too am stunned that Booker has not waved his magic wand and stopped all violence and poverty in Newark in his first year in office. How dare he!
Why isn't this outrage directed towards the monsters that lined 4 innocent kids up against the wall of an elementary school and shot them execution style?
Where were the protesters when Sharpe James was robbing Newark blind with his 8 girlfriends in his Rolls Royce in Brazil and Martha's Vineyard while the city was basically taken over by gangs and the schools stayed in the toilet?
Newark will never get anywhere as long as idiots like Donna Jackson are more interested in getting rid of Cory Booker (who is their alternative by the way?) than directing their anger and outrage at the gangs and wanton criminal that are brutalizing and murdering their own people in the street.
I hope Booker takes the gloves off with these two-bit "activists" that are pissed about losing their automatic no-show, no-skill government jobs and start ruling the city Guiliani style. Let McCarthy get more cops in there and make sure that Newark's forensic lab is finally up and running with equipment from this century. Essex County and it's "prosecutor" Paula Dow have laughable conviction rates because of this - and the fact that witnesses were not protected in Newark in the past (on Sharpe James's watch).
Take the gloves off, Cory - and find out who the turncoats are in your own administration!
The so-called "real" Newarkers are never going to like you anyway, so you may as well do what you have to do.
And then maybe we can finally get Whole Foods to come to town!
We may never know why these poor kids were gunned down. But the no snitching crap being spewed throughout the inner cities is destructive and will just make life even more miserable for the residents.
I witnessed this first hand recently when I sat on jury duty. Victim's eye was ripped out of his head with a broken bottle. There was a crowd present, including the victim's "best friend" and his "best friend's girlfriend." No one testified. The victim's limited testimony alone and the physical evidence wasn't enough to convict. Had any witness come forward and corroborated and expanded on the victim's account, the jury would have likely convicted.
So back into the community go the slimeballs who destroyed this poor kid's life.
My heart is extremely broken by the senseless murder of these three kids. Dashon Harvey was a graduate from my high school and in my class. It is heartbreaking to me that I will never see him alive again. Although we are surrounded by idiots who have no value for human life, I would have never expected something like this to happen to Dashon. He was a sweetheart. A friendly and beautiful person. He will be eternally missed. My condolences go out to his family and friends. I am praying for us all. This has affected me in a way that I could have never even imagined... If anyone has information about the death, I pray that you will come forward. Have some respect for these people that were leading positive lives. They will never be brought back to us, but they can at least be respected by having their murderers arrested!!!!!!!!!
I recently moved to Newark from the South Bronx of NYC. I live in a really quiet neighborhood (alot quieter and friendlier than the BX). However, I have seen alot of drug dealers and crack addicts strolling the streets of Newark. I believe our new Mayor is not the problem (he is trying to clean up years of negligience). The problem is we need more Police. In NYC, there is a strong police presence. Police patrol the streets and drive through all the streets on a constant basis. I lived in Newark for about a week before I even knew what a police car looked like.
Continuation to post 40-
I am deeply saddened by this horrific crime and hope that Newark can figure out how to get the resources to have more cops patroling the streets and get rid of all the garbage and slimeballs that ruined these families lives. Our children are our future and well worth the investment!!
to the klu klux klan member, I think that your comment was very ignorant, and one day, if you believe in God, you will have to answer to God. I do agree with your comment about us black people spending too much time thinking about the wrong things, instead of improving ourselves as a people. even though your comment was greatly ignorant, hopefully it sparked a nerve in the blacks and other minorities who read it, to see how others judge our ignorance, and to focus on what's important for the betterment of ourselves.
Guns didn't take their lives and neither did poverty. Men full of hatred took their lives, men probably doing the deeds of some Hispanic gang. I hope the evil doer's lives are taken too, by the state or by the inmates. Wake up black people, there is an ethnic cleansing going on in America and you are the target. simply google it if you don't believe, if you prefer to stay in denial and ignore the world around you. Black people are being killed across the land, in shootings just like this. it's everywhere, just do your research.
There was a reason--ethnic cleansing. Hispanics are to Blacks as Palestinians are to the Jewish population. But..they, have Israel while Blacks have? Open your eyes Black people. The announcements were made years ago and it is happening across the nation. Google Sheryl Green. William Nash. and that uncle tom kissing up to the KKK, please. Your are putting down your own people when 3 Christian productive black youths were killed because they were black! Get a grip and stop judging 39 million people en masse.
The following is a 5 answer response to the "very educated" blogger who signed off as "The Ku Klux Klan:"
1) Your racist kind is the scum of the earth and you revel in your own perversions - that is why you continue to impregnate and marry your sisters and cousins. "Hey sis...where should we tell everyone that we're registered? Dumb Fucks R Us?"
2) You sound like you're jealous of minorities...Sounds like your mad that you can't go to the sideshow. LOL - Never fear...from my understanding, everyone's welcome! Well, maybe not you. LMAO
You need to really get off your lazy ass & stop bitching about "Reverse Discrimination." Instead of "Black on black and brown on brown crime just makes my work easier," you ought to get a job or better yet, do you have a job??? I don't pay taxes just so you can sit on your ass, playing Dungeons & Dragons all day! Get to work! No job? It figures. I can get you a job on the "stroll."
3) Your father must have whooped your ass everytime he glanced at you when you were a lil' kid because now...life-is-just-so-unfair!!! Boo-fucking-Hoo - Get over it and if you can't, go lay on somebody's couch already.
4) Do YOU even know what's going on in your government??? I'm sure your knowledge & education is extremely limited and that's okay...we all can't complete the 5th grade. Getting your information from the back of a Bazooka Joe gum wrapper is not considered very "educated." You might want to get hooked on phonics.
5) You are a joke to me and I had fun clowning your numb nut ass.