Wow!!!! Thank u Lord, I pray the family gts the justice they deserve ....

A huge thank you to the Montclair police department for finding this criminal. I hope justice is served. Why was this guy carrying a gun? Why would he kill such a young man? My heart goes out to the victim's family. Their son sounded like a wonderful young man with so much hope for the future. It was senselessly taken by a thug with no future but more violence. Now my tax dollars have to get spent defending him or paying for his jail time. something is wrong with this picture!

Another publication reports that this is possibly this scum bag's third arrest since Oct., 2010. The other two times for selling drugs. I know some people like to claim we lock up too many drug users/dealers for their "non-violent" crimes, but if this thug were still incarcerated for his previous transgressions, perhaps a life isn't senselessly taken. Would really like to know the details regarding why he wasn't in jail.

I've updated the article. Thanks... am reaching out to police for a response.

Drug dealers can't exist w/o drug addicts. The young man that was shot was apparently drug addicted, he came from pretty far away to buy drugs in the hallway of a building in Montclair NJ. What does it mean when they say "drug deal gone bad" or "attempted" robbery? We know both of these guys started that day as an alive drug dealer and alive drug addict. Was the dead guy the intended victim or was the killer the intended victim? Either way two young live were cut short in my town last week and I'm pissed. Apparently we have drug addicts coming from far and wide to make purchase's in our town and we've got drug dealers with multiple arrests calling MTC home. Oh and let me not forget to mention the fact that this crime involed an illegal had gun. All the facts will come to light eventually but until they do let's take our collective heads out of the sand people. Montclair has a problem, drugs guns and gangs, (god forbid I mention the white collar crime here) and it needs to be addressed before it's too late. This week we last two boys next week who knows. Let's get to the heart of the problem and solve it or at least try. I'm raising 3 children in this town, I'd like for them to be safe. My prayers to both families.

Last comment was interesting. Not sure what language it was in, but interesting.

@SpeakEnglish, my comment was written using an iphone as I rode the train into Manhattan. Glad you're bright enough to understand it despite the grammatical errors.

I agree with David! Speak English, You need ESL classes, this is not a time to be sarcastic
chillout

David...I am so glad you bring this up because I am so tired of some of the comments people write when various things in this town happens.
I'm sorry he was killed because no one deserves to die however when is everyone going to start connecting dots. No one walks into a multi-family home and targets a specific person for absolutely no reason. All these drug bust, drug arrest and drug related things in this town come from people that actually want something.
This whole attitude of "thugs coming in town"....when people come to this town with drugs, they coming to sell to people in this town and PLEASE don't fool yourself into thinking that only "thugs" buy drugs. As David said, people come here to buy drugs and people here by drugs but everyone is so stuck on stereotypes that it passes them by. I'm also glad you bring up the white collar crime because that's something else NO ONE talks about but if there is some type of drug bust or robbery everyone is quick to jump on it. Report and jump on everything.

Again, my condolences to this kid and his family but could it be that he was actually here doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing? It's always "unclear" when no one (police or public) doesn't want to state the obvious.

I'm not condoning drug distribution AT ALL....just saying before you jump all over his past charges, start thinking about the bigger picture.

Just a thought...

I remember a few years back some thugs posted on Craigslist an I-Phone for sale in the area ( East Orange comes to mind). The amount was fairly low and it seemed like a great deal. Turns out, the buyers would show up at a certain time with cash (cash sales only if I remember is what the seller wanted), only to be robbed as they got out of their cars by some "thug" who was waiting to rob them. I have a feeling, we will see something like this here. I would give the family of the slain victim the benefit of the doubt that their son was NOT on drugs...

He was setup IMO, to be robbed.

P.S

If he "wanted" to buy drugs, I bet he was closer being in Times Square working for Reuters than driving to Montclair...Doesn't make sense.

Alan, I remember that story and it was in a Clifton high school parking lot! This kid was looking fr sumthin, media gives what they want, these people are talking fr the town. Id listen to them first ...

If ur feeling,Adam is true, then people need to stop trusting so easy! Going into a building not knowing the area! Srry this generation is a highly drug using one, kids in middle school smoking selling so, I'm sorry again fr the family, but the truth is coming out slowly but surely

The kid was attempting to buy/procure drugs. A white boy from Ridgefield going into a rundown apartment building with that dude? To buy a fucking iPhone? Get real and get honest with yourself. Could it possibly be that graduating from drug dealer to "murderous thug" had something to do with his previous incarcerations rather than lack thereof? People get caught up in bad things, people react. Not everything is so cut and dry. Continue to judge from behind your castle walls. The world is a tough place and a large portion of Northeast Jersey is far from an exception. Nobody knows what truly happened besides the accused. Why not wait to hear the whole story first? And why is this murder getting so much more national attention than the murder of Ibn Futrell? Because Brian was a white college student with a 'bright future' (in NA) and Ibn was a 29 year old black male killed on Mission Street? My condolences to both families and I hope that the whole truth comes to light, not simply the story we've been given. Who has something to gain by not talking about the obvious? Why is Schiavetti's family more important than Williams'? Also, why, if this young man was processed on Wednesday (which he was), did his arrest not make the news until Friday?

Good point TC, btw did you know there was an arrest made in the murder of Ibn F.? That wasn't even newsworthy.

It did make the news David.. http://patch.com/A-r934

I was so upset by the comment made by "speak English" I found it hard to focus on much else. What exactly was it about David's comment that made you react the way you did? Its hard to understand why someone would think it ok to post such a hateful racist comment not to mention on a platform pertaining to a fatal shooting.
Drugs are a big problem and always have been. That said we could just as easily debate gun laws.

Thank you Shelley, I stand corrected and apologize for the misinformation.

I am the mother of a 20 year old incoming junior at Villanova who also is a summer intern at Thompson Reuters. This story just upset me so much thinking how very fragile life is. Regardless of the circumstances, it is just so sad and tragic and my heart breaks for his family. I can't imagine the pain.

How did Brian get to Montclair on a Sunday afternoon? Who was he with? If it was with "friends", did they step forward immediately to help find the accused killer and explain the circumstances that put him in this horrible situation? If someone drove him into this situation, will they be held responsible for contributing to this unfortunate outcome?

It is Thomson Reuters, not Thompson Reuters. Why so many references to TR? What does that have to do with what happened??

Ladies and Gents,

Lest many of you think the children of Montclair (many of them white and wealthy) are not seeking illegal drugs and not involved in shady dealings, think again. This is not a "thug" vs. "non-thug" issue (and we know what those terms imply, stereotypically when it comes to race and gender). The US, and in particular, young adults in high-school through college, have an insatiable appetite for illegal drugs. Black, white, Hispanic, Asian...it does not discriminate. Lets be honest with ourselves and realize that this is not an issue for only one set of the population, one income-bracket, and and one-side of town. I'd go so far as to say that the wealthier kids are doing as many, if not more illegal drugs...they just have parents that can get them good lawyers.

Looking at the Ridgefield newspaper comments, it would appear that Mr. Schiavetti had a friend waiting outside in a car who is not being mentioned. Nonetheless, Montclair is a destination for college kids and/or this friend may have been a Villanova student from the area (purely speculative).

So basically, from the comments above, there are a lot of enlightened people here that like to blame the victim. Unbelievable. Defense lawyers would love to have you on a rape jury. Don't blame the guy that pulled the trigger, blame the guy trying to score weed - or whatever it was. Oh and play the race card to boot. Quality message you're sending. And please, the previous shooting on Mission St. was reported and detailed thoroughly, so don't give us that Race Card 101 Playbook bullshit. Grow up.

Think critically, I think you're right on target.
As far as "the race card" is concerned, its used far too often and by far too many people including those that have no real claim or reason to use it. I don't think the police in THIS case ever looked at this thing racially, it's the ignorance of some of the people commenting on the story the routinely bring race into play.
Furthermore if wanting to hold people accountable for their involvement, actions or inactions then yes I'm blaming everybody and that includes local law enforcement, lawmakers, the gun lobby.
-continued....->

We the commenters don't know what really happend in that hallway or what the intent of either man was, maybe it was a CRACK deal or gun deal we don't know. Because he is dead doesn't make him innocent, he purposefully walked into a strange building with a known CRACK dealer. If he'd walked out with a bag of crack and gotten caught by police a mile away what would the conversation be? What would be the headline? My point is, there are no innocents involved including the driver.

Has anything changed since the shooting death of Ibn Futrell? I remember all kinds of meetings and vows to make changes yet here we are again another wrong place wrong time shooting death in our town.

My comments are not meant to be personal attacks, I don't know you.
They are meant to spark conversation and debate regarding critical issues in our town.
Finally I must say I'm really sorry this young man died his family must be devastated and heartbroken. He seemed to be very bright and full of promise. I hate that this happen to him and his family. May God be with them.

Does anyone know if the suspect grew up here? Went to school here? Graduated MHS, dropped out or was raised somewhere else and is now living and basing his dealer biz from Montclair?

Do you think they might seek the death penalty given Brian was a target and this pre meditated? Sounds like this neighborhood is known for drug deals based on the comments I have read on this site. Montclair police-I hope you beef up patrol of this area. I think we should all wait for the facts to emerge before passing judgement. This is a tragedy for all those involved and I am saddened by the violence taking place in Montclair and across our country. We need to revisit gun laws. I don't know how we stop the drugs....

Montclairdad, nobody is blaming the victim for being murdered and to state that is inflammatory and misleading, while taking away from the journalistic spirit of questioning and replacing it with personal attacks. All that I am saying is that there is more to this story than is being given to the public, likely in the interest of protecting the victim's family and reputation without the same being done for the family of the accused. That is implicit guilt by association which lacks integrity and, in my opinion, is morally wrong. Furthermore, my bringing up race was to draw attention to the fact that Ibn's murder was, while well covered locally, not nearly as much of a story in the National news cycle and to draw attention to that fact. A news item that shows black on white crime, especially in an affluent area with a high national profile for integration such as Montclair, sells better. I'm simply pointing this out and asking people to think about what's put in front of them and why.

On another note, we live in a country where the accused have an implied presumption of innocence under our legal system, a presumption that predates the Constitution. Oftentimes the accused are held to be guilty until proven innocent by the media, ie Montclair Police Blotter (which is more or less a regurgitation of information the police decide to publish, but that's another issue) as well as the public. I try to withhold judgement until all of the facts that will come to light do so and I urge others to do the same. It does no good to point the finger with as limited information as we have. At the end of the day, one person is dead and another is in jail. I hope people ask how and why this happened, rather than pointing fingers and blindly accepting what is put in front of them, no matter how outraged and scared we may be. As much as I want answers, I'm not willing to accept one view without listening to another first.

Jenny, we no longer have the death penalty in NJ.

we probably should when there is no doubt a killer among us. a life was taken by pure stupidity maybe we should take a life instead of addtl taxes to life in prison..

This is all wrong

Can anyone shed any light on James Piits? Were he and Brian friends at Villanova? Were all three hangin around in Montclair? So many unanswered questions? Still so sad for all involved.

Interesting who you might find from Montclair at Villanova...

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/marlon-calbi/42/62/303?_mSplash=1

did they ever find out or even mention if they were looking for the person who was driving the plum colored SUV that "dropped" these two "friends" off at the apartment house?

im so glad to see not everyone in this town has their head buried under 10ft of sand and is totally oblivious to whats really going on. sometimes im amazed at the comments i see in these articles that people could be so naive about this innocent town, its innocent residents and precious children. there are larger issues that should be spoken of. no one is "blaming the victim" for being killed, everyone mentioned their condolences. i love montclair but....some of the residents are ready to point fingers and accuse when its comfortable and convenient. when we have the chance to actually open the floor to real conversation, then defenses start flying up.

david mapes, think critically and montclairs own --- thank you. i was loosing hope.

and the issue of the word "thugs" thats a totally different subject. thats why i put it in quotes the first time because very few people use that word without attaching a face/race/clothing/attitude to it but again, a can of worms not being opened.

SeeWhy-
You can beg to fiffer all you like. The writer who referenced the code words of "thug Vs. non-thug" was absolutely correct. I don't care what Schiavetti's backgroud, status, etc was. If he was there to buy drugs, How do we know that HE was the intended victim, simply because he is the one who ended up deg. He could have very well been violent himself. Let's wait for the facts.

*differ

Why is this not a bias crime, where are the vigils and Al Sharpton? Oh the victim was white.

Ridgfield is a town known for widespread drug use among youth. Police look the other way. More emphasis is placed upon petty neighborhood disputes such as lawn mowing too early on weekends, flipping someone the bird, speeding tickets on side roads based upon an owner's intrusive video of a neighbor. Meanwhile, suicides,DUI among students and moms is prevalent. It is swept under the rug in this Stepford town. A possible drug deal here is not very surprising at all.

City Girl, let’s not assume!

The facts are a black kid killed a white kid using and illegal gun. The fact is the black kid was caught selling drugs within 500 feet of a school in 2011 while also have a few other drug related arrests on his record. This kid should have not been on the streets. The problems are bad parenting, liberal judges and a Governor who does not care.

Brian could've been coming to town not to purchase but to sell a designer drug and Ernest got greedy. Hmmm...