Police are searching for a man in his 20s who might have been involved in the fatal shooting of a 2-year-old boy in Newark’s South Ward, city police Director Samuel DeMaio said.
“As of now, we know for a fact the shot came from within the house,” DeMaio said “There was a male that was with the child’s mother when they arrived at the hospital.”
2-year-old shot in Newark
The 2-year-old was discovered i in a St. James Place apartment and the death was confirmed after 10:30 a.m. by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, whose investigators are now interviewing possible witnesses.
The man and woman apparently brought the child to Beth Israel Medical Center together, and the man left. Police began searching for him to question him. Authorities said he is believed to be driving a white Pontiac Grand Prix. Detectives are currently questioning the child’s mother.
DeMaio said police are looking at two scenarios:
“Either the child was playing with the gun and it was an accidental shooting or someone within the apartment shot the child.” he said.
Investigation
Investigators from the Essex County prosecutor’s office, the lead investigative agency, are looking for a weapon and for more witnesses but have secured a search warrant for the St. James Place home. The apartment, on the 100 block of St. James, is one of four in a brick, 2-story house in a residential neighborhood near Beth Israel, where the child was pronounced dead.
