Newark Top Cop Says Keep ‘Perspective’ After 4 Fatal Shootings

NEWARK, NJ — A series of deadly shootings in Newark have left immense loss and sorrow for local families in their wake. But as the city mourns, its public safety director is reminding residents – and news media – to keep their perceptions about local crime “fair and balanced.”

In the span of a week, four deadly shootings took place in Newark on Brunswick Street, Sunset Avenue, South 9th Street and North 9th Street (read more about each incident below).

Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose emphasized that the recent violence has taken “human lives” and caused immense losses to the victims’ families. However, Ambrose also pointed out that the homicides need to be taken in context.

“As the Newark public safety director, it’s important I put these recent homicides in a wider perspective and ask for fair and balanced reporting during this unfortunate few days of gun homicides,” Ambrose said.

According to Ambrose, there were no shooting homicides in the previous 50 days before last week. The only homicide the city saw in July was a domestic stabbing.

“I’ve been a Newark officer, chief, public safety director and county chief detective for 35 years and I can say confidently this is the first July without a gun homicide in all those years,” he attested.

Some other stats cited by Ambrose on Friday included:

• We have had 32 homicides this year, down from 43 at this time last year (26%).
• Our shooting incidents are down 13%, and we’ve seen a 5% drop in shooting victims, which are show a continued steep downward trend in that we showed 30 percent and 29 percent reductions from 2017 to 2018.
• Overall crimes are down 12%, again following a 19% overall reduction from 2017 to 2018.
• The Newark Police Division with our federal, state and county partner agencies have taken more than 300 guns off the street this year. We continually battle the traffic of illegal guns into our streets from other states.

“As always, our gun homicides are almost always related to territorial drug conflicts and the victims are usually targeted,” Ambrose continued. “We have continued crime suppression operations in these areas to deter these violent acts.”

Ambrose added that the city’s police force is seeing “increased trust” in the community. He credited much of the NPD’s “crime suppression success” to members of the public who call in suspicious activity.

• See related article: Man Pees On Newark Cop Car, But ‘Mutual Respect’ Is Growing In City

Earlier this year, Newark officials announced that the Brick City has made huge strides in reducing crime over the past few years, including a 15 percent decrease in overall crime for 2018, the fourth straight year it's dropped.

Crime stats didn't drop across the board. For example, the city saw an increase in aggravated assaults of 14 percent during 2018. But even in that data there was a silver lining, officials said: fewer of those incidents involved firearms.

• See related article: Crime Is Dropping Big Time In Newark, Officials Say

Not everyone agrees with the Newark Police Department’s recent analysis, however.

In 2018, Newark was ranked at #15 on a list of “Murder Capitals of America.” That study, done by NeighborhoodScout, a web-based platform from Location Inc., used crime data from the FBI on number of murders and compared it with the population statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to NeighborhoodScout, a person had a 1 in 100 chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime in Newark during 2017. That compared to a 1 in 437 chance in the rest of New Jersey.

• See related article: 2 NJ Cities On List Of ‘Murder Capitals Of America’

HOMICIDES IN NEWARK

The following deaths were recently reported in Newark, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.

SHOOTING ON BRUNSWICK/WRIGHT – Nakiyyah Miller, 18, of Newark, died in a fatal shooting that took place around 3 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 9 near the corner of Brunswick and Astor streets. A pair of male victims from Newark, one 16-years-old and the other 35-years-old, were also shot, but are expected to survive.

SHOOTING ON SUNSET – A fatal shooting on Sunset Avenue near Vailsburg Park claimed the life of Jonathan R. Toledo-Key, 29, of Newark on Tuesday, Aug. 6.

SHOOTING ON SOUTH 9TH – Jahahd O. Payne, 23, of Randolph, died from a gunshot wound after a fatal shooting on Monday, Aug. 5. He was found injured in a vehicle on the 200-block of South 9th Street.

SHOOTING ON NORTH 9TH – A fatal shooting on the 200-block of North 9th Street on Saturday, Aug. 3 claimed the life of Vernon A. Robinson, 34, of East Orange. Robinson was found unresponsive in the rear yard of a nearby home.

Don’t forget to visit the Patch Newark Facebook page. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site. Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com