IMAGE TAKEN FROM CNN.COM
UPDATE ON AUGUST 11TH
•New Jersey authorities have issued a warrant for Rodolfo Godinez, a 24-year-old Nicaraguan national, in connection with the execution style slaying of three college students in Newark, NJ. Cops say Godinez also goes by Rodolfo Gomez and has a criminal record including arrests for robbery and weapons possesion.
•A 15-year-old became the third person arrested, while 28-year-old Jose Carranza, an undocumented illegal immigrant from Peru, and a second 15-year-old are also behind bars. The “principal suspect,” Jose Carranza, pled “not guilty” after turning himself into authorities.
•Carranza and the juveniles are charged with three counts of murder, four counts of first-degree robbery, one count of attempted murder, one count of conspiracy to commit robbery, and various weapons charges. Now, the manhunt is on for at least two other people believed to be involved in the brutal murder. [ READ MORE ]
UPDATE ON AUGUST 9TH
According to CNN.com, two people have been arrested in connection with the murder of 3 college students in New Jersey.
Jose Carranza, 31, of Newark, surrendered with his lawyer at midday Thursday, Mayor Cory A. Booker said. And the second suspect is said to be 15 years old, so his name was not released.
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NEWARK, New Jersey In a city where the murder rate has risen 50 percent since 1998, three promising College students were murdered execution style in a playground on Saturday.
Their names: Dashon Harvey, 20, Terrance Aeriel, 18, Iofemi Hightower, 20. There was also a fourth victim who police say survived the gunshot wound to the head. Natasha Aeriel, 19 (Terrance’s older sister) is said to be in fair condition at the hospital.
The four lived in Newark and were to attend Delaware State University this fall. None had criminal records, according to authorities, and relatives and neighbors said they were not involved in drinking, drugs or gangs.
“They were good kids,” Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow said. [SOURCE]
Cornered by thugs in a desolate Newark schoolyard, four college students kept their cool and sent each other a flurry of text messages that said, in essence – we’ve got to get out of here.
But before they could escape, three of the victims were marched to a wall, forced to kneel – and shot dead, police said yesterday.
The sole survivor, Natasha Aeriel, was in stable condition and under a 24-hour police watch at a Newark hospital after giving cops a sketchy description of Saturday’s slaughter and the five men responsible for the executions. Aeriel had been shot before the other students were slain.
“We’re getting the story piecemeal from her,” Police Director Garry McCarthy said of Aeriel, 19, a junior at Delaware State University. “Based upon witness testimony, we believe it was a robbery.”
McCarthy would not release the desperate text messages but said the victims did not appear to know their attackers. He also said they did not die without a struggle. [READ MORE]
A $50,000 reward was being offered for information leading to the arrest of those involved.
THIS IS HORRIBLE MY PRAYERS GO OUT TO THE FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
WE GOT TO DO BETTER THAN THIS!
I wonder if somebody knew who did it would they tell……………..
Sad…
WOW this is extremely sad…i had tears in my eyes reading this….this happened soo close to where i live
this breaks my heart. I dont even know what to say, its a shock that people would kill one other like this. My thoughts and prays are with the familys of the victims and the victims.
The no-snitch rule being what it is, that is.
a complete shame.
may God bless the family
What is this world coming to? Children dieing left and right. God bless and family and friends of these young individuals.
~SWEETS~
I read this on YAHOO yesterday & I was absolutley STUNNED! These murders were so senseless. Thanks CL for posting their pictures. The sister who survived will be scarred for life. This is where torturing should be an acceptable practice for punishment. The death penalty is just a quick fix!
Thanks for Posting this story Angel.
crazy just sad… god bless the family. when will this ever stop
Such a sad story. Senseless deaths, so young as well. I hope that they catch the killers.
So this makes national news, but philly’s 250 murder count doesn’t? Don’t mistake my frustration for disrespect, but a triple homicide happens every weekend here.
Thanks for posting this story Angel, my prayers go out to the families.
i wondered if and when you were going to post this story.this is a damn shame, they were trying to do good and somebody who didn’t want nething out their life stole their young lives.we’ve got to do better. my prayers go out to their families.
How sad. My condolences goes out to their family.
I’m about in tears yo…..
That’s so fucked up
Thank god for the one that survived..Prayers to all involved
Lord Have Mercy on the victims grieving relatives and friends……Senseless.
God bless you all
I appreciate you putting this up on your blog. Thank you. This is a heartbreaking story. None of our black leaders are anywhere to be found but these 3 lives matter. It’s almost embarassing that the reward is so low.
May they R.I.P. and may the killers be put to death.
Wow this is a shame. So sad….
OMG……..
What is this world coming too…
RIP
@ 13, i see where you’re coming from i went to philly recently and it was like 4 murders that week. violence is getting out of control especially in the philly/nj area
OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!FOR SOMEONE TO DO A SUCH A HORIBLE THING I’LL NEVER UNDERSTAND
OMG, this is absolutely sad. I hope they catch the sorry bastards.
my goodness… that’s horrible. I can’t believe that.
Oh my god…am speachless
I think it is important to inform the public. The person who posted the story should be mindful that there is one surviver. They put all her info out there. Her school and all. Next time think about that.
@#13
Yes i’m sure homicide’s happen everywhere, but the media chooses what they what to put out to the media. Not to say that any other murders aren’t just as important, but once they say “COLLEGE STUDENT’S”, the media is on alert ever since Va Tech.
I live in Brooklyn & Jersey is on the news alot for some senseless crimes like this one, Jersey needs alot of help & i hope an intervention will come about to try to get all this under control.
But first we have to want to make changes in our communities before we think someone else will want to.
Oh WTF!! the world we live in today is crazy, people always wanna prove they are the big boss, and they straight up p*ssies, they better catch them mofo’s and i like to see what they dude when they get grabbed in the shower,
Why do I get a feeling that Hip Hop is gonna get blamed for this as well, not all the artist are promoting violence but some take like yeah live the thug life and get a record deal those fools are messing up hip hop
Rest in Peace to those kids, it’s a damn shame
This is a damn tragedy. Stuff like this needs to be breaking news.
thanks for the post CL
I swear I’m ashamed and I just want to cry-such promising young people slain-so senselessly. I pray the criminals are brought to justice
this story is all they have here on the news in ny.. it’s so crazy especially since all 4 seemed to be good kids.. i hope the girl in the hospital recovers so she can say who shot them though!
how much you wanna bet it had to do with some jealous ex boyfriend drama… but then again a lot of people killed in newark were random..
The most heartbreaking part of this story is that these kids had promising futures that were to just about to come to fruition. It looks like they almost made it out.
My other question is, what were the circumstances surrounding this? We know the basic details, but those text messages have got to tell the full part of what happened. I suppose if whoever did it is caught and brought to justice, then we’ll know.
Regardless,I hope they’re at Peace now.
Blacks need to WAKE UP (esp that ignorant rapper- no name who was on TV looking like a fool speak on this issue)
The no-snitching “rule” was developed at a time when white police (police in general) were not protecting Blacks in Black communities. Blacks had to do it… THEY WERE SOLVING CRIMES AND BRINGING ABOUT “JUSTICE”.
Now, there are TWO CHOICES (which depend on whether we as a people feel as if America has come far enough to protect us)
1. if they have: HELP THE POLICE TO SOLVE CRIMES- too many people’s mothers, brothers, children, friends, etc. are DYING and JUSTICE is NOT being served.
2. if they have not: START PROVIDING JUSTICE to those in your community. there is NOTHING respectable about incidents like this (and the one in Dunbar Village in W. Palm Beach, FL- which really touched my heart)
These things remain UNSOLVED and these people are out of the street to commit crimes again and THEY WILL. And the scary part about it is that these four young adults or the mother and son in the other incident could be me or you… IT COULD BE ANYONE.
PICK ON, but regardless Justice needs to be served!
My prayers go out to the families of all unnessecary violence.
Horrible. I pray for the family to get justice for this. R.I.P to the victims.
A goddam shame. I hate to see things like this, it makes me wonder where we’re going today. Are we progressing as a society or regressing as race. It is truly saddening to see and hear about this and I offer my condolences to the families of the lost.
this is a horrible thing to hear. i hope the murderers get caught
ON the street*
Pick one *
- sorry!
im from philly too and the murder rate is ridiculous…my heart goes out to those families….
this is the world we live in, satan’s world…i cant wait till the new system…
I’m SO glad you guys posted a story about this. I cried and prayed for these kids when I read the story this morning. I am praying for the people who did this. I don’t understand how they can sleep at night after this. They’ll come forward soon….
GOD BLESS THE FAMILIES INVOLVED
I know it’s a moot point but I can’t help but ask….WHY?? Three young promising lives lost….Such a tragedy! May God bless the families.
This is sad..so very sad..R.I.P to those kids and i sent my condolences to their families..Justice must prevail in this case!
this is extremly sad they all had a promising futures and then u have poeple like these bastards play God .. my prayers go out to the families
OMG this is so horrible I saw this earlier. Thanks Angel for the post cause its not gettin the coverage it should. 4 kids shot execution style. God bless their souls and my heart goes out to their families.
My Prayers go out to the family!! May GOD give them peace and strength…
That’s so sad…I hope this story gets the media attention it deserves!
sad….I keep praying for the sister to live & tell the police what happened
@ 13
All due respect to Philly, but lately here in NYC there have been mad azz murders occurring on weekly basis as well.
I think what makes these murders particularly heinous is the fact that these were kids who were about to simutaneously begin lives full of promise. It’s almost bizarre that all 4 were about to begin college and were “executed”.
There are some definite troubling aspects of this story that we don’t know yet (the text messages), but I guess we won’t know that for awhile.
In the meantime, my hope is that they are at Peace right now. And I pray that the sister who survived is being well protected right now.
I clicked on the link in the post for the rest of the story-they have more pictures of the victims
and I swear I am outraged, I want to scream-because I feel so helpless and i wish there was so much more we can do than offer condolences to their families
most of us on here aint out here kiling people or commtting crimes-what can we do to stop this!
It’s obvious that some people have no respect for human life and use guns without remorse-what can I do personally to stop a killer?
Thanks for posting this, Angel. I was actually waiting for this.
This is the type of barbaric shyt that boils my blood.
Misguided, uneducated street kids killing their own, gun-toting and “thuggin”
I feel for the families of the victims. The way they died was truly horrific.
Sadly this will continue to happen. It does every single day.
$50,000 ?
Should be $250,000!
It’s such a shame I can’t imagine nurturing and raising children in a hostile environment protecting/steering them away from drugs and violence. Only to have IGNORANCE and EVIL take them away when it’s time for them to start their lives
The are so many messages to be learn from this… WHAT ARE THEY?
MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO THE FAMILIES….
THERE IS ABSOLUTLY NO CAUSE IN TAKING SOMEONES LIFE, SUCH A SENSELESS ACT COMMITTED BY ANIMALS…
I PRAY TO GOD THAT JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED AND THIS RIDICULOUS “STOP SNITCHIN” CODE WILL NOT BE THE DOWNFALL OF THIS CASE…
AND THE MEDIA SHOULD BE ON THIS 24/7.
Extremely Sad, completely horrifying….why would someone ever THINK about doing such a thing? May God have mercy on those that are involved and comfort the families of those who have lost!!
SAD!!!!!!!!!!!
das messed up, i hope dey find all dey asses and put dey fuckin asses under the damn prison , dem kids aint deserve dis, li pray their families will be alright.
Bam Bam i agree with you 100%