Two young children were hurt after they were shot while sitting in the back seat of a car in Newark during a drive-by shooting, police said.
The bullets started flying around 6 p.m. Wednesday, during the peak of the evening rush hour, according to police. The children, a 4-year-old and a 7-year-old, were in the back seat of a Jeep and stopped in traffic on Irving Turner Boulevard when another car pulled up along side them.
The people in the other vehicle started shooting, striking the driver — the 30-year-old boyfriend of the children's mother — multiple times, police said. A security guard at a nearby complex helped get the family to the emergency room.
"I seen the mother jump out the car crying...she came to me asking for help," said Lamont Lanham. "I heard the kids crying in the back. I looked in the backseat I saw the kids bloody...I just made a path and got them to the hospital, soon as a I can."
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The Jeep was driven to the hospital with windows blown out, and was still sitting in the University Hospital emergency bay hours after the shooting.
The boyfriend, who police believe was the intended target, was said to be in critical condition. The children are expected to survive.
"There was a kid holding his face where you could actually see the blood coming down the side of his face," said neighbor Markyse Joseph.
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The shooting occurred just steps away from a busy playground. Newark Public Safety Director Brian O'Hara said that the scourge of gun violence in the city has left no one safe.
"Already this year we’ve recovered well over 250 illegal guns including in the last week. Some assault weapons, weapons of war that have no place on our streets," O'Hara said.
Sources with knowledge of the investigation said that the car used in the investigation was stolen from Kearney, aft it was left running with the keys inside. Police said that stolen cars are often used to carry out crimes.
