There were 18 homicides in Hudson County in 2020. Why one Jersey City official thinks there should be fewer
Updated Dec 30, 2020;
Posted Dec 30, 2020
Hudson County Prosecutor s Office members and Jersey City police are seen on July 10, 2020, investigating the death of Yusef Mathis, who was found shot dead inside a car on Clerk Street. (Joe Shine | For The Jersey Journal)Joe Shine | For The Jersey Journ
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Jersey City is fighting violent crime with a multi-pronged strategy, but the state’s second largest city could use some help from judges and the criminal court system, Public Safety Director James Shea says.
“One homicide victim had 4 previous gun arrests, another one had two previous gun arrests,” Shea said during an interview about the city’s homicide rate in 2020. “The next one had three robbery arrests; the next one had three gun arrests and a murder arrest.”
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Three immigrants and several former scholastic athletes are among 10 men who officially became Paramus police officers this week.
Here’s a little bit about them:
Born in New York City,
Jamie Takahashi is a longtime borough resident who was graduated from Paramus High School and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in economics from Syracuse University.
Takahashi, who speaks both Korean and Japanese, was then was commissioned into the New York Army National Guard as a transportation officer and is a first lieutenant and executive officer with the 719th Composite Truck Company in Manhattan.
Takahashi joined the Paramus Volunteer Fire Department and became a Special 1 police officer in 2017 before being graduated from the Morris County Police Academy.
Homicides in N.J. soared 23% in 2020. What caused the spike?
Updated Dec 31, 2020;
Posted Dec 31, 2020
A Trenton police officer on the scene of a shooting with multiple victims in June on Wood Street. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Med
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And in some cities, like Trenton and Paterson, killings soared to levels unseen in decades.
There were 287 homicides in the Garden State as of Nov. 30, according to statistics provided by the New Jersey State Police. That’s up from 234 over the same time period in 2019.
The rising figures aren’t unique to New Jersey. There has been a surge in gun violence across the country, from New York City and Philadelphia to Kansas City and Oakland. Like New Jersey, officials across the nation attribute the uptick in killings to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
13-year-old charged with murder in Jersey City ×
The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Unit has charged a 13-year-old Jersey City girl with the shooting death of a 35-year-old man who was shot at Martin Luther King Drive and Wilkinson on the afternoon of Dec. 10, according to a press release from the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office.
The teen was arrested by Jersey City police officers just before 7 p.m. on Dec. 24, in the area of Union Street and MLK Drive.
The unnamed girl has been charged as a juvenile with Murder, a first-degree crime; Aggravated Assault, a second-degree crime; Possession of a Weapon (firearm) for an Unlawful Purpose, a second-degree crime; Unlawful Possession of a Weapon, a second-degree crime; and Possession of a Firearm by a Minor, a second-degree crime.
13-year-old girl charged with murder in shooting death of Jersey City man
Updated Dec 25, 2020;
A 13-year-old girl has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a Jersey City man earlier this month, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office announced.
The initial announcement of the girls arrest Thursday night, via Tweet, offered few details, nor any motive. It said only that prosecutor’s investigators and Jersey City police had apprehended the girl and charged her with the Dec. 10 death of Niles Holmes, 35. Officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But on Friday afternoon the prosecutor’s office issued a follow-up announcement detailing the charges against the teenager, including a first degree murder charge unusual for a suspect of such a young age, male of female.