A brutal Aug. 4 triple-killing in a Newark, NJ, school playground has sparked public outrage that could make critics of “vigilante justice” wince, considering the reaction on a newspaper website.
Issues more than guns may be involved in the case since it turns out that at least one suspect who turned himself into the mayor in a negotiated surrender is an illegal Peruvian immigrant, Jose Lachira Carranza, 28, who is also a suspect in a brutal assault and child-rape crime. Some commentators are also now raising questions about why Carranza, who is in the US illegally and has had previous arrests, was not previously deported.
An unidentified 15-year-old boy has also been arrested in connection with the schoolyard slayings and police are reportedly still seeking another adult and two more teens.
While anti-gun Democrat Gov. Jon Corzine pointed a finger of blame at “guns…shipped across state lines,” Newark citizens, and some observers from elsewhere, posted blistering remarks on a website sponsored by The Newark Star-Ledger and Jersey Journal that suggested residents are fed up with local criminals, and are ready to throw away the law books and get out a rope.
A fourth teen, identified as Natasha Aeriel, survived the attack but was shot seriously in the face and apparently left for dead. She was taken to a hospital and was under heavy guard since she is the surviving witness to the attack. The four victims had been planning to attend Delaware State University this Fall.
Killed in the attack were Natasha’s brother, Terrance, 18, plus Dashon Harvey, 20, and Iofemi Hightower, also 20. They had been lined up against a wall behind an elementary school, forced to their knees and shot execution style in the head. The newspaper reported there may have been as many as five assailants involved in the killing.
Corzine blamed guns but Newark citizens blamed the killers, and it is clear they want swift, merciless justice.
One person identifying himself as “kwh64” wrote, “If these wanna be thugs are captured, (t)he system should make an example of them with the electric chair right away. Not next year where you will spend hard earned tax money feeding and bedding these cowards.”
And another using the nickname “momwth3kids” put it bluntly: “I think that when they find the cowards that killed those kids, they should take them to the same spot and shot (sic) them the same way.”
A writer identifying himself as “USJUSTICE” urged the city to “Flood the streets with police…They are heinous beasts that do not deserve due process. These punk thugs are afforded too much opportunity to go around with this atrocious life style.”
“Serenity6266” certainly didn’t live up to that nickname, by writing, “If they can execute three to four human beings in cold blood then they don’t deserve to breathe the same air we do. They are like dogs…once they draw blood they will bite again. There is no justice for this type of animal, only death.”
The newspaper reported that the four friends, all with promising futures, had apparently gone to the school yard to hang out without disturbing neighbors. At some point, they were confronted by several other people before they could leave the area. The newspaper reported that they had text messaged one another about leaving.
It appears Hightower put up a fight, because she suffered knife wounds on her forearms. A neighbor heard several shots about 11 p.m. and called the police.