A 14-year-old suspect was taken into custody on murder charges following a shootout with Newark, New Jersey, police officers Friday evening that left one dead and a second hospitalized, police and Essex county officials said.
The two officers involved in the shooting were part of a team investigating a report of illegal firearms when gunfire was exchanged in the city’s North Ward, in the area of Broadway and Carteret Street, officials said at a Saturday morning press conference.
Witnesses said they heard a string of gunshots after they saw officers running down the street on a commercial strip between a McDonald’s and White Castle restaurants near the Passaic River.
Police and officials with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said both officers and the teenage suspect were injured in the altercation. The 14-year-old was taken to the hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries, they said.
A five-year veteran of the police department, Officer Joseph Azcona, was shot and killed while he was still in his patrol car. The 26-year-old officer was pronounced dead at the hospital overnight.
“He didn’t even get a chance to step out of the vehicle before he was struck,” Emanuel Miranda, Newark’s director of public safety, said. Azcona’s mother, father and brother were at the hospital to see him and grieve after the shooting, Miranda said.
The second officer was wounded and taken to University Hospital, where he was also being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Officials had earlier said the officer was in critical condition.
At least one gun was recovered from the teenager, official said at the press conference. Four other individuals were also placed into custody and were being questioned by police and county investigators.
The 14-year-old was facing charges of murder, attempted murder and illegal weapons possession.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he had been “updated on an incident” involving the officers in Newark, and urged people to “pray for these officers, their families, and all our men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line to keep up safe.”
The state attorney general’s office said it was monitoring the situation as well.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka called the shooting a “heinous, callous disregard for humanity,” and said officers had gone to the scene knowing that “grave danger was possible.”
Officials at the press conference gave few other details about what led police to the group that fired on Azcona, the ensuing police response or the shootout.
Baraka expressed frustration that society hasn’t figured out a way to prevent a 14-year-old with a firearm from shooting at police.
“We just have to do a better job. I have to do a better job. Our families have to do a better job. The community has to do a better job at making sure that our children are not handling guns in the street, shooting at police officers,” Baraka said. “This is not a police problem. This is our problem. This is our collective problem.”
