24-Year-Old Charged with Killing Newark Teen

A Newark man has been charged with killing 13-year-old St. Antoninus Catholic Church on South Orange Avenue near South 9th Street, according to officials with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.

John Brinson, 24, of Newark, was arrested without incident in the basement of a house in the 300 block of Renner Avenue Wednesday afternoon around 5 p.m., according to Newark police Detective Hubert Henderson. Police did not elaborate on the home's owner or if there's a relation to Brinson.

Acting Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio said Brinson and Young apparently had argued about Brinson's girlfriend days before the killing.

DeMaio said Newark Police Department's Fugitive Apprehension Team and U.S. Marshals made the arrest.

Brinson also was charged with various weapons offenses, according to Essex County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Fennelly.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker lauded Brinson's capture, "Today's arrest is the result of the hard work of our police department and federal partners. My thoughts and prayers are with the family of Dante Young."

Young, who lived roughly a block from where he was shot in the city's West Ward, was described by family and friends as a teenager who loved to eat and play video games.

Yvette Graves, Young's mother, , "He was 13. My baby boy."

The killing had sparked some outcry about Booker's "Safe Summer" initiative to combat crime and about the city's 10 p.m. curfew for unaccompanied minors under 18. As part of "Safe Summer," DeMaio said instead of returning curfew violators back home, police officers would take the violators to neighborhood churches.

Graves, said he was out late that Sunday night with friends, "It's the summer time. He was with his friends."

The killing also as they shut down the block on South Orange Avenue near South 9th Street to protest Young's death, as well as two other killings last week in the city.

Officials said Wednesday night that Brinson is in Essex County Correctional Facility in lieu of $750,000 bail set by New Jersey Superior Court Judge Peter Vazquez.