Slayings Stir Mix Of Resignation and Anger in Newark

Three Deaths Shake a Hardened City

NEWARK -- Amid the anger, tears and heartache over the recent execution-style killings of three college-bound young people here in Newark, there is also a sense of resignation that the slayings are an all-too-familiar part of everyday life.

"Murder is the norm," said resident Don Franklin, 49, who coaches youth football. "Just because these kids are college kids, it's getting more attention."

On Saturday night, in a schoolyard riddled with gang graffiti, three students were lined up against a wall, forced to kneel and shot in the head. A fourth survived after being shot near the ear.

Early Sunday morning, a man was shot and killed on Smith Street. And on Tuesday, a confrontation between an armed man and an off-duty corrections officer left the officer with a bullet wound in his foot and the other man dead from gunshots.

But the schoolyard killings have caused an outcry about the homicide rate, which remains stubbornly high despite the election of Mayor Cory A. Booker, who took office asking to be judged by his ability to reduce crime.

Other cities, including Boston, Philadelphia and Orlando, have in recent years experienced a spike in slayings after years of falling homicide rates.

In Newark, there have been 60 homicides this year. Last year at this time, 63 people had been killed, a number that grew to 105 by year's end, the highest total since the crack epidemic of the mid-1990s.

Every other category of crime has dropped this year, police are quick to point out, and violent crime is down 16 percent. Still, 61 percent of those recently polled by the Newark Star-Ledger said crime is the city's biggest problem -- up from 27 percent 10 years ago -- and 48 percent said if they had the money, they would leave town.

The harrowing story of last weekend's shooting could suggest why.

Four friends -- Iofemi Hightower, 20; Dashon Harvey, 20; Natasha Aeriel, 19; and Natasha's brother Terrance Aeriel, 18 -- had been listening to music and joking around behind Mount Vernon School on Saturday night. Authorities said that around 11:30, they sensed menace from others in the schoolyard and text-messaged one another that it was time to go home.

Instead, soon Natasha Aeriel was shot near the ear. Amid apparent struggle, the others were lined up at gunpoint against a low wall, shot in the head and killed. Natasha is in fair condition under police guard at University Hospital, where by Tuesday she was able to give information to investigators.

Police say they believe the motive was robbery. Lupe Todd, a spokesman for the mayor, would not comment after news reports suggested an arrest in the case was imminent.