Community activists call for cease fire in Newark in wake of Christmas day shootings

Two teenagers are dead and third is critically wounded after a Christmas Day shooting in Newark, NJ that has left families heartbroken.

Christmas Day shooting in Newark

Huddled under a tent in the pouring rain, family and friends of 15-year-old Kasson Morman said he was good boy with a sunny outlook who might have turned out to be a doctor, lawyer or community leader had he not been killed in a Christmas night shooting.

“Every time I saw him he was laughing,” said City Councilman Ras Baraka, the South Ward Councilman who was Kasson’s principal at Central High School. “He was a good kid. He was a feisty kid, a kid just like any other kid growing up in Newark.”

The Christmas Day shootings happened on Schley Street in Newark, right off Route 78. A street that has been plagued by car thefts, and now murder.

The shooting on Schley Street, in the city’s South Ward, also killed Zainee Hailey, a seventh-grader and a singer in her church choir. Kasson Morman attended Central High School.

Victims

Kasson Mormon, Facebook

Kasson’s close friend — 14-year-old Abdul “Scooter” Frazier, a freshman at Weequahic High School — was shot in the neck and seriously injured.

Kasson Morman

Authorities have released no motive for the attack, but two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation who spoke with NJ.COM, said it appeared one of the boys had been targeted as the pair stood on the porch of a three-story home in the 100 block of Schley Street. Abdul lived on the home’s first floor, a relative said.

Kasson Mormon was visiting Abdul on Schley Street. Abdul was minding his business, opening the door for Kasson, when the gunfire happened.

Zainee Hailey

Zainee Hailey

13-year-old Zainee Hailey was simply taking out the garbage with her 7-year-old brother when she was caught in the cross-fire and hit by a stray bullet.

Christmas Day shooting in Newark stats

The shooting pushed Newark’s 2013 homicide total to 102, the highest since  2007, and marked the latest in a series of high-profile slayings that have rocked communities around Essex County within the past two weeks.

In wake of the recent shootings, there have been protests with community activists calling for gang members to put their guns down.

South Ward Councilman and mayoral candidate Ras Baraka wants community leaders, residents, police and gang members to work together to help end to the escalating violence.

“I’m going to call on the conscientious individuals of this community and the people who are out here in these streets to put down their guns,” Baraka said Saturday. “I’m going to make a plea.”

At the press conference, Alnsia Reeds, Kasson Mormon’s mother, described her son as a good kid who loved dancing.

Zainee Hailey’s family described the 13-year-old as a vibrant cheerleader who loved to read.

“I was just sitting here wondering, trying to put it all together. How? Why?” Peterson asked. “Another … angel gone. It’s like a dream.” – Zainee Hailey’s grandfather.