Apr 21, 2008 6:53 pm US/Eastern
Police Make Arrest In Irvington Triple Shooting
Rutgers Graduate Killed Outside His Home
IRVINGTON, N.J. (CBS) ―
Police are questioning a man in Irvington on Monday night after an officer was shot in a triple shooting that took place on Sunday morning. Investigators are tying to figure out if Shaquan Johnson, 27, is the same person responsible for shooting and killing a college student minutes before shooting a Newark officer.
Police Sergeant John Van Bavel is lucky to be alive to see his daughters and little grandson.
"God was watching over me," said Van Bavel.
The 48-year-old veteran, who still has a bullet lodged in his leg, was shot Sunday morning sitting in his marked SUV on Grove Street. Police say Johnson, who they believe was high on drugs, is the man who pulled the trigger.
"He fired one round through my car door, through my left hip," said Van Bavel.
Van Bavel says the suspect told him right before firing that a victim had been shot down the street.
Police are investigating to see if Johnson is responsible for shooting several other people earlier, including a 22-year-old Rutgers University graduate, who was killed in front of his own home.
"He was loving, he was kind, he loved the lord and his family," said the students grandmother, Doloris Timmons.
"He died in his best friends arms and his momma was holding him," said Timmons.
His family, including his mother, said it took the ambulance 40 minutes to arrive to the scene.
Police said they received two calls regarding the shootings that happened within minutes of each other.
"The initial investigation they may have responded to determined nothing further to do and may have left," said Police Director Michael Damiano.
The ambulance company said it took them 9 minutes to respond to Farra Junior and 4 minutes to Van Bavel. However, they didn't say what may have happened afterwards. But Van Bavel is sure of one thing:
"There's no doubt he could have taken me out if he wanted to."
Johnson is being held in the Essex County Jail on $500,000 bail.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
2009 Celebrity Deaths, July-Dec.
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments