NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—City police are investigating the May 6 shooting that injured two juveniles on the grounds of the New Brunswick Apartments, located on Commercial Avenue in the city’s First Ward.
New Brunswick Today’s Facebook page was the first media outlet to report the incident, which eventually led to an official New Brunswick Police Department (NBPD) press statement.Â
The statement, released on May 8, indicated that two people under age 18 had been struck with bullets and both sustained “non-life-threatening injuries” before being taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
The incident took place at about 10pm near “Building 6” in the cluster of garden apartments, a 13-building complex has been a hotspot for crimes in the recent past, despite being across Neilson Street from the Rutgers University Police Department (RUPD) headquarters.
“There is no suspect description at this time,” reads the NBPD’s official statement.
Detectives were investigating if the shooting stemmed from an nearby assault that occurred earlier in the day, according to the press release.
“In that incident a Rutgers Police Department officer observed a large fight near the same location of 33 Commercial Avenue in which a juvenile was arrested after assaulting several others with a baseball bat,” reads the release.
“That arrest and subsequent charges was made by the RUPD,” read the NBPD statement, which did not identify any individuals.
According to the RUPD’s crime log, at least one arrest was made around the time of the shooting, but the document only lists “Commercial Ave.” as the location.
The department lists “Obstruct Investigation Ofcrime Is A Crime/Adm Is D” and “Resisting Arrest – Disorderly,” as well as possession of marijuana and drug paraphernelia as the nature of the investigation.
A related incident of “Aggravated Assault” is also listed under the same case number, but that incident remains “Open/Pending.”
Anyone with information on either incident was asked to contact Sgt. Harry Lemmerling of the NBPD at (732) 745-5217.
Charlie is the founder and editor of New Brunswick Today, and the winner of the Awbrey Award for Community-Oriented Local Journalism. He is a proud Rutgers University journalism graduate, a community organizer, and a former independent candidate for mayor of New Brunswick.
