Tag Archives: NJ

2 officers hurt in NJ station shooting released

Two of three police officers shot and wounded by an arrested man inside a police station have been released from a hospital.

The third officer, Sgt. James Garber, who underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to his abdomen, remained hospitalized in stable condition Saturday. Officials said Garber might be released as early as Sunday but no timetable had been set.

The shooting occurred early Friday inside a station in Gloucester Township, a Philadelphia suburb.

Authorities said the arrested man, Eddie Jones III, overpowered and disarmed Officer Ruth Burns after his handcuffs were removed during processing. They said Jones then fired multiple times at Burns and two other officers, Garber and Sgt. Kevin Thine, who had been in a nearby room and went to help her.

Garber and Thine returned fire on Jones, a state Department of Corrections civilian employee who had been accused of stalking a former girlfriend, police said.

Jones, of Willingboro, had been taken back to police headquarters in handcuffs, and when the cuffs were removed for a brief period during processing, he lunged at Burns, knocking her down and taking her weapon, police Chief Harry Earle said. He “unleashed a barrage of gunfire” at the officers, Earle said.

Jones, 39, was struck multiple times by return fire and was pronounced dead at the scene, the chief said.

Garber also was shot multiple times; his life was saved by a bulletproof vest. He also suffered a graze wound to his head.

Thine suffered a cut to his abdomen and a graze wound to his chin, while Burns was shot in one of her feet. Both were taken to a hospital for treatment and were released later Friday.

The shooting will be reviewed by the state attorney general, as is customary with all shootings involving police officers. But Camden County prosecutor Warren Faulk said initial evidence shows that the officers responded to gunfire that was initiated by Jones and returned fire to save their lives and those of other officers in the building.

Source: Fox US News

Norman Schwarzkopf: 10 Quotes on Leadership and War

By Kevin Kruse, ContributorNorman Schwarzkopf died today at age 78. Born in Trenton, NJ, Schwarzkopf graduated from West Point and rose through the ranks of the US Army eventually becoming a four-star General. Schwarzkopf commanded Operation Desert Storm, successfully driving out Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991. While he was known […]
Source: Forbes Latest

Sandy-flooded inland towns in NJ see no solutions

Images of New Jersey‘s devastated shoreline captivated the nation in the days after Superstorm Sandy.

Less noticed was the enormous damage caused inland when earthen barriers along or near the Hackensack River were breached, sending a tidal surge washing over parts of several towns.

Now attention is turning to what can be done to prevent similar river flooding in future storms, and townspeople and officials don’t like what they are hearing.

The Associated Press found little consensus among agencies about who is responsible for the barriers and whether they were even meant to provide flood protection. No comprehensive record exists of who put them up and for what purpose.

What’s more, the state Department of Environmental Protection says it isn’t responsible for regulating them.

Source: Fox US News

52-year old truck driver tried as juvenile in 1976 New Jersey murder

A truck driver has been convicted of the brutal murder of a New Jersey woman more than three decades ago.

A judge in Union County convicted Carlton Franklin of murdering neighbor Lena Triano in her Westfield home in 1976.

Prosecutors say Triano was found tied, raped beaten and strangled in her home.

Franklin was arrested last spring after the prosecutor’s office’s cold case unit uncovered evidence that could be tested with modern techniques.

Since Franklin was 15-years-old at the time of the murder, prosecutors tried the 52-year-old in juvenile court, in accordance the laws in effect in 1976..

Because he was tried as a juvenile, prosecutors could not release his identity.

Law enforcement sources identified Franklin to NJ.com as prosecutors seek a judge’s permission to officially release his name.

There is now reportedly a growing debate on his sentence, since he was tried as a juvenile.

He could face up to 20 years in prison.

“He got away with murder for 36 years and finally justice prevailed,” prosecutors told NJ.com after the verdict.

Franklin, who has spent two decades in prison for a separate kidnapping and robbery, has not had a criminal record since his release in 1999 and has held a job as an oil truck driver.

“Why would he kill her? Why would you take a life when you can’t give a life? Jesus, have mercy,” Rosetta Franklin, his mother who is caring for his children told NJ.com.

“My baby boy was killed in ’85. I know what that’s like. I am so sorry for what he did. I am very sorry,” she said.

His sister maintains his innocence.

Click for more from NJ.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox US News

NJ woman sentenced for making, streaming kid porn

A central New Jersey woman who sexually assaulted a 5-year-old girl she was babysitting and put a video of the abuse on the Internet has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.

Thirty-three-year-old Manalapan (muh-NAL‘-uh-pan) resident Jennifer Mahoney will be under lifetime supervision once she’s freed from prison. She pleaded guilty in May to sexual exploitation of a child and was sentenced Tuesday.

Mahoney admitted sexually assaulting the girl and streaming the assault live over a video chat service. She also admitted abusing the girl on another occasion, recording the abuse on a camera phone and emailing the video to at least one other person.

She said she viewed other videos of child sexual abuse streamed to her using a video chat service.

Source: Fox US News

Etan Patz suspect reportedly said boy was still breathing when he dumped body

He claims he killed Etan Patz, but when the man accused of the murder last saw the missing child, the boy was still breathing, according to new details about the confession.

Pedro Hernandez — who was an 18-year-old SoHo bodega clerk when Etan Patz, 6, vanished near the store in 1979 — told cops he “placed the boy in a plastic bag [and] placed the bag in a cardboard box,” according to defense papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday.

“He then carried the box to the entranceway of a basement approximately one-and-a-half blocks away, where he placed the box on the ground just inside the open entranceway,” the papers say.

Hernandez’s confession was taped in May at the Camden County, NJ, prosecutor’s office, near his current home in Mount Holly.

“According to the video-recorded statement by Mr. Hernandez, when he left the box, Etan Patz was still alive,” the papers say.

A law-enforcement source who asked not to be identified told the Post that Hernandez said that although Etan was breathing, he was motionless.

“He said [Etan] was unconscious, but still breathing. He was almost dead,” said the source. “Hernandez said he panicked and dumped the body.”

It was some seven to eight hours after he was taken into custody that Hernandez, who has an IQ of approximately 70, made that first video-recorded statement to cops, his lawyer, Harvey Fishbein, told reporters after his client pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and murder charges.

In a second videotaped statement, made the next day at the Manhattan DA’s Office, Hernandez added that “Etan Patz might have died because of his [Hernandez’s] actions,” the papers said.

Click for more from NYPOST.com
Source: Fox US News