Crime & Safety

Man Shot Sunday Was Athlete, Academic

A 21-year-old Connecticut man and Villanova student was shot multiple times on William Street Sunday evening.

 

Brian Schiavetti, 21, was shot and killed in w in Montclair, an area not known for violent crime.

Schiavetti graduated from  (RHS) in 2009 after what appears to be a four-year attendance. He played on the Ridgefield Tigers football team in 2006 as a wide receiver and defensive back and was accomplished academically, achieving the RHS Honor Roll in 20052006 and 2007.

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After his RHS graduation, Schiavetti enrolled as a student in the Villanova School of Business, where he made dean’s list in 2010.

"He was a senior with an expected graduation date of 2013," said Suzanne Scarpino, Assistant Director of Media Relations at Villanova University.

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Schiavetti had been actively involved in the Boys and Girls Club and had enjoyed football and other sports. His Facebook page lists him as a fan of the New York Knicks, the New York Yankees, the New York Giants, and the Miami Heat.

According to Schiavetti’s LinkedIn page, he was currently interning at Thomson Reuters News Agency this summer.

A  by police because he had “fit the description of the suspect.”

“I hope they find the killer, I was driving home from Bergenfield and the cops stopped and arrested me and my girlfriend feet away from the GWB tolls in Fort Lee,” wrote Patch user . If this is true, it follows that police have a description of the shooter.

The Essex County Prosecutor's Office has identified the man shot on William Street Sunday night by Monday morning as Brian Schiavetti, 21, of Ridgefield, Connecticut.

Few additional details were released about the shooting, which took place around 6:40 p.m. A statement issued from Chief of Detectives Anthony Ambrose said the investigation is ongoing but it appears that Schiavetti was "targeted."

Schiavetti's body was found on a first floor hallway of a three-story apartment building. He had been shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene after Montclair police and the prosecutor's office responded to the scene.

Late Sunday, the office said that the man was shot multiple times and found in the first floor hallway of a three-story apartment building.

Police arrived at 25 William Street after getting a report of shots fired, said Ambrose. Police do not yet have a motive for the shooting, Ambrose confirmed Monday, though he said the shooting appeared to be "isolated."

Also on Monday, Montclair Detective Lt. Angel L. Roman Jr. said an "active investigation" is ongoing. "We cannot release anything," he said.

But anyone with information is being asked to contact the Prosecutor's Hotline, 1-877-847-7432; or the Montclair Police Department, 973-744-1234. All calls will be kept confidential.

There is no other information available at this time, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

Mayor Robert Jackson, who was just sworn into office on July 1, was at the scene of the shooting Sunday Night. He called an emergency township council meeting Monday morning to address "legal issues" related to the shooting, but was forced to adjourn the public portion of the meeting when only three council members showed up.

"Obviously we feel great sadness at the loss of life and our zero tolerance policy for this sort of thing stands," he said.

Before the adjournment, a man in the audience asked why there couldn't be more community police patrols in Montclair.

Jackson said that following a in February, more street lighting has been installed, just in the last two weeks.

"This is an action-oriented council and we will be taking action in this case," he said.

Jackson added that the council would be discussing the idea of creating more police patrols, but cautioned that the issue "is a personnel matter."

He said he's waiting to receive input from the police department.

The area where the shooting took place is mainly residential, with multi-family homes, about a block southeast of Valley Road, and not far from Tierney's Tavern and Nauna's, a popular Italian restaurant.

Neighbors had gathered shortly after the shooting, but declined to be interviewed as investigators worked the scene nearby.

On Monday morning, William Street was deserted except for a postal worker and one elderly woman.

The woman, who said her name was Gladys, said the neighborhood where the shooting occurred was called Frog Hollow because of the Hollow Day Care Center that used to be located nearby.

"This is a nice place ... we don't get things like this happening around here," she said. "There must have been a reason someone did this because we don't have this kind of crime around here."

Homicides in Montclair are rare, with only one occurring in 2011. In that case, a 31-year-old waitress named Shazina Khan was found dead in her apartment near Glenfield Park last July. Her estranged husband was arrested in the murder.


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