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Another violent week in Jersey City with two more murders in Greenville. The chaos erupting in the city finds its sobering consequences the next morning in court, and crime reporter Mike Conte and I find ourselves rushing to follow up on the accused. In another deadly shootout in Triangle Park, one teenager was left dead last Tuesday afternoon after being shot in the head. The accused shooter was quickly identified by witnesses and police, probably because he unloaded about a half a dozen bullets into the crowded urban area in broad daylight. He was brought into court on his first appearance for murder the next afternoon, Mike and I waiting nearly four hours for him to come through the system. Finally the accused shows up in handcuffs and shorts. He looks like he was ripped out of bed and into the back of a cop car. His face is expressionless when entering and facing the judge. Now, first appearances in court can be quick, I may only get a dozen frames before they are led back into the holding cell. I take a picture of the room, the judge and prosecutor, rushing all the extra info. I refocus on the accused. I keep his expression locked in my frame, trying to find an interesting angle in a relatively dull space. Desperately, I want to make a good photo through composition and geometry.And then I notice a tear. He begins to silently cry, trying to wipe away the tears with his shoulder because his hands are cuffed behind him. I stop thinking and just take the picture. I realized there was nothing else needed in that moment. Just stop, click and be left with your own thoughts. For the full story by Mike Conte click here.
Here is a frame from some NWS Wrestling last Saturday night in Kearny. Expect much more photos containing sweat, blood and neon spandex in an upcoming story.
Amidst the chaos of the earlier shooting, I snapped a shot of a woman being detained by the authorities. Her story wasn't clear at the the time, but an officer said they had to detain her because she wouldn't calm down and kept trying to walk into an active crime scene. Her expression of panic, confusion and terror told the story as I saw it happen around me. People were afraid, curious and frustrated.
The woman in the photo came forward the next day, after we used the picture across the front page. She wanted to give us her name and tell us she was actually afraid that her niece had been shot and was trying to get into the park to make sure it wasn't her.
A local store owner, who would not give their name in fear of retaliation from the shooters, leaned over towards me as I took the picture. "This is everyday man. Everyday."
For the follow up story we wrote on Ms. Williams click here.
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."
