Top Stories

Newark Residents Hold Vigil For Executed Friends

Authorities Make 3rd Arrest, More Likely

NEWARK (CBS) ― In a moment of great spirituality, residents gathered outside the Mount Vernon high school in Newark where Natasha Aeriel, Terrance Aeriel, Iofemi Hightower and Deshawn Harvey were killed. They gathered to offer prayers and simply to touch the schoolyard wall where the young lives were cruelly ended.

The prayer vigil culminated with the release of 100 white balloons to represent the souls of the three young victims going to heaven.

Authorities had a more mundane task - that of bringing the killers to justice. Mayor Cory Booker along with Essex Co. Prosecutor Paula Dow and Police Director Gary McCarthy announced a third arrest in the case. The suspect, identified only as a 15-year-old boy from Morristown, faces several charges, including three counts of felony murder. Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, confirmed the arrest and the charges, but would not provide further details or comment on the boy's alleged role in the slayings.

The arrest came several hours after one of the suspects in the shootings that left three of the four victims dead was arraigned. Jose Carranza, 28, who authorities say is an illegal immigrant from Peru living in Orange, is being held on $1 million bail. He entered a not guilty plea Friday.

Family members of the victims were in court for the suspect's hearing, glaring at him as the judge read the charges: three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, and other related charges.

"You don't want to know how we feel," one family member told CBS 2 HD following the 11-minute hearing.

Carranza's attorney, Felix Lopez Montalvo, declined to comment to reporters.

Carranza surrendered to Mayor Cory Booker Thursday after Booker announced during an early afternoon news conference that a murder warrant had been issued for Carranza's arrest. Less than an hour later, Montalvo called Booker to tell him he was with Carranza, who was prepared to turn himself in.

Booker also announced a 15-year-old boy was arrested Wednesday night and charged in the case, but officials would not release his identity due to his age. He's being held at a local juvenile detention center, but prosecutors are expected to try him as an adult.

Officials would not elaborate on the boy's relationship to Carranza, only saying he was an American-born citizen who was not a blood relative of Carranza's. The teen's attorney declined comment.

The pair are accused of having 18-year-old Terrance Aeriel and his 19-year-old sister Natasha Aeriel, along with their friends Iofemi Hightower, 20, and Dashon Harvey, 20, kneel down near a wall by the school's playground, before shooting them in the head at close range.

Ms. Aeriel miraculously survived the attack and helped prosecutors pick Carranza out of a photo array.

The suspects were also identified through forensics. Officials say fingerprints lifted off a beer bottle from the scene-matched fingerprints in their data system.

Carranza was already facing an aggravated assault charge in a different case and had been arrested at least three times before, Booker said.

According to court records, Carranza was indicted by grand juries in New Jersey twice this year -- in April on aggravated assault and weapons charges; and in July on 31 counts which included aggravated sexual assault of a child under 13 years old and endangering the welfare of a child he had a duty to supervise.

Questions have been raised about why Carranza, who is from Peru and was residing in the country illegally, was released after the previous charges.

Booker and Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow said Thursday that additional arrests could be made. "We believe that others were involved in this heinous crime," she said. "We're looking for them.

Booker would not elaborate on how many other suspects were at large, but says law enforcement officials are actively pursuing them. "We have very strong leads. I am confident all the suspects in this case will be apprehended," he said. "I want these killers off our streets."

All four victims were students at Delaware State University, which is planning a memorial for them later this month.

The three friends will be buried Saturday in separate services.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)