In Newark, a Night of Violence

Of the 12 people shot in Newark Monday night, only one was killed.

That was 15-year-old Al-Aziz Stewart, whom his mother described as a community-loving teen who wanted nothing more than to play football at a college in Florida.

"I'm just lost for words right now," said Stewart's mother, Monica Jenkins, who spoke at a rally for her son Tuesday afternoon on Bergen Street, near the crime scene.

Police said in Monday night's deadly shooting, a gunman opened fire on Scheerer Avenue from a dark-colored SUV around 10 p.m., injuring eight people, including Stewart. Stewart later died at University Hospital.

The other seven — four men and three women — suffered non-life-threatening injures and were treated at University Hospital. Authorities would not release their names, but said their ages ranged from 17 to 32.

Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, said the group was gathered in a driveway roughly 50 feet from the street when they were shot. Carter said none of the victims lived in the house on the 100 block of Scheerer Avenue, where the shooting occurred. 

Four hours earlier, a shooting at the corner of Halsey Street and Branford Place, sent three men and one woman to University Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Newark Detective Hubert Henderson. Their names and ages were not released.

Mayor Cory Booker, who referred to Monday's shootings as "targeted attacks," said the incidents are connected to several other shootings that appear to be part of an ongoing drug dispute in Newark. The mayor said some of those shot Monday had criminal histories, but he wouldn't elaborate.

He did confirm that police are working to see if there's a connection between Monday's two shootings and two other shootings July 5. Police have labeled all four as "drug related." The two shootings last Tuesday morning left Shawn Miller, 20, and Marquis Robinson, 24, dead in the city's South Ward. Those killings were within a 45-minute period.

Acting Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio said police have received complaints in the past week of "open-air" drug dealing in the Scheerer Avenue area.

Jenkins and Stewart's stepfather, Samad Sheffield, say, however, their son was just an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.

"He was coming from swimming to meet some friends to find out what it was they were going to do to have some fun," said Sheffield."No drug dealing. No gang-banging … these were children, students."

Violence in Newark this summer has left 10 people dead since June, including two teenagers. Booker, though, wouldn't clarify how many shootings this summer were linked to drug disputes.

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