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Jersey City can be a violent place. This weekend a 23-year-old Jersey City man was shot execution style, only a few blocks from the Journal's offices. Yesterday day a 19-year-old was left in critical condition after someone unloaded at least 18 rounds at him. All in all, there have been seven people shot in the last five days. The first of the shootings began Thursday afternoon.
While we sat humped over computer screens in the Journal's newsroom, the crackle of panicked voices came over the police scanner. Something about a shooting in Greenville's Triangle Park, so I jumped at the opportunity to get out of the office. When I arrived on the scene, the police cars and ambulances were still ringing. Yellow tap closed off the park, with numbered cones already marking the shell casings littered everywhere. I counted at least 15. Moving around the crime scene, I noticed a young man sitting with an EMT in the park, holding his right thigh. I realized he was one of the victims shot.
I tried to get a few frantic frames amidst the police and crowd gathered around the park, climbing up on car to get an angle. Looking across the park at the victim, I never stopped to consider whether or not he was a minor. The information I got from witnesses was that the shooting was in retaliation to a prior altercation in the park. Something about the people who got shot earlier trying to hit the shooters with a brick. Considering the seriousness of the incident, I didn't see this person bleeding in the park as a minor. I couldn't see any element of youth. There certainly wasn't anything innocent left on the scene. He stared at me without a tear on his face.
Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio later told us he was one of two 17-year-old boys shot in the legs, while another 15-year-old girl had been shot in her stomach. All three victims refused to cooperate with authorities about their investigation into the shooting, refusing to give up the shooters. Even as the 15-year-old girl went into surgery.
To read the story click here.
To view a slideshow of all the photos click here.
A few frames from a recent protest I covered outside the PPG Industries chromium-tainted 16-acre site along Garfield Avenue in Jersey City. While a proposed cleanup plan for the site has finally been formed, many neighboring residents do not feel the plan is enough. About 50 community members banded together outside this bleak block of the city, standing together to make ask for more. "This is in our backyard," said Jersey City resident and active member of her neighborhood association Madeline Hartling . "The health of Jersey City residents cannot be compromised."For the full story click here. For a slideshow of the images from the protest click here.
During Jersey City's traditional One Block Parade for St. Patrick's Day, I caught our Irish mayor sporting some pretty fresh kicks. In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, Mayor Jerremiah Healy wore a special pair of green and orange Adidas sneakers with his suit and tie. After speaking with the owner of a local shoe store located on the block, I found out his shoes are actually a pair of limited edition Adidas Original Campus 80 House of Pain sneakers designed by the 1990's Irish rap group's lead singer Danny Boy O'Connor. The House of Pain logo is on the tongue of the shoe. Pretty fresh mayor.
More photos from the parade can viewed here.
I wanted to thank Ms. Grace Linkhorn and her lovely family in Jersey City for sharing their story with me during last year's election. I recently found out the photo essay placed second in the 2008 NJPA Better Newspaper Contest for Feature Picture Story with a daily. Below is the winning series of images from the project, "These Hands."
