Shootings Leave Fourth Ward on Edge: 'It Was Never Like This'

Residents of the Fourth Ward were left with an unsettling feeling Tuesday morning when they learned a late-night incident on Mission Street was the latest of a string of shootings over the past several months. 

“With all the random shootings, it's been getting worse,” said Allan Jones, of Montclair. “So what is the town and community doing?” 

Hours after the shooting in her Fourth Ward, Councilwoman Renee Baskerville said the council and police are working to make the “necessary changes within our structure” to better address the recent violence in Montclair. 

Jones said the township was considering adding a police substation on the corner of Mission Street and Bloomfield Avenue, but he's not sure what happened to it.

“They do need a substation here,” he said. “The neighborhood really needs to get involved.”

According to authorities, an 18-year-old woman and three men were shot by a masked man on Mission Street just before 1 a.m. Tuesday. Two of the four people wounded were also the targets of a drive-by incident late last month, police said.

Police described the shooter in Tuesday’s incident as a slim black man, possibly with dreadlocks, about 6-feet tall wearing a white shirt. The man fled in a dark-colored car, police said.

Naji Love, 18, who was shot in the chest and sustained the most severe injuries, is in serious but stable condition, authorities said. She is currently on a ventilator at University Hospital in Newark. 

The other three people shot are also in stable condition. Montclair residents Terill Vaxter, 20, was shot in the arm, and Timear Haley, 18, was hit in the butt. The fourth, a Newark teen, suffered a wound to the leg.

Deputy Chief Todd Conforti said in press conference Tuesday the Montclair police have increased patrols and has had its Street Crime Unit assigned to the Fourth Ward.

A 50-year resident of Maple Avenue, a block from the incident, who declined to be identified, said, "I've lived in this area my whole life, it was never like this.”

She also agreed Montclair Police need to set up a substation in her neighborhood.

“I would have moved if this was a normal thing," she said.

Derrick Davison, who also lives in the neighborhood, has been shocked by the recent influx of shootings and said area youth need more programs to join.

Tuesday's incident is the fifth shooting in the Fourth Ward since May. The first incident was a bloody murder-suicide followed by a shooting on May 31 when 20-year-old Jaylen Riley was wounded three times, including once in the chest.

In addition to the Elmwood Avenue incident in late July, two people have been charged in connection with a June shooting on Mission Street where a man was wounded in the leg.

"Were not asking for a handout—just give us what we need," said Stella Laffiette, an East Orange resident who volunteers in Montclair with the East Orange Food Program. 

"Look there, you got that beautiful park," she said, pointing to Glenfield Park on Maple Avenue less than 100 yards from Tuesday's shooting. "It's filled with tons of young kids—where are the teenagers? Why isn't there some sort of football or baseball camp?"