The wounding of a 5-year-old girl, caught in a shootout at a Downtown Jersey City housing complex, has newer residents wondering about whether it could happen in their part of town.
Despite a recent drop in several categories of crime in Jersey City, 13 murders have been reported so far this year, with several shootings occurring in the city’s public housing projects.
Last week, the shootings snared a young victim when Hasmera Clayton, 5, was hit in the neck by a bullet near a playground at the Montgomery Gardens housing complex on Montgomery Street during a nighttime block party.
An 18-year-old suspect was arrested the next day and charged with aggravated assault and weapons offenses. The suspect appeared in court on Monday and $300,000 bail was set for him. He is being held at the Hudson County Correctional Center in Kearny.
“I almost had a heart attack.” – Montgomery Gardens housing complex resident
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As for the girl, surgeons at University Hospital in Newark removed the bullet from her neck and she has begun to recover.
Newcomers on crime
Andrea Petzko and her fiancé Daniel Vassilev became husband and wife at a small wedding ceremony in Hamilton Park on July 17, the highlight of their nine months living in Jersey City.
The couple moved to Ninth Street just blocks away from the park after Thanksgiving, to close the gap in a long distance relationship (she’s from Cranbury, N.J., he’s from Astoria, Queens).
Petzko said in the time she has lived near Hamilton Park, she has felt safe and does not find the neighborhood besieged by crime.
“Maybe I’m a bit naïve, but I see a lot of people walking in my neighborhood late at night and there are plenty of people using the park,” Petzko said. “I am bit of a ‘Nervous Nellie,’ so I am always looking around whenever I am coming home at night from the [Grove Street] PATH station.”
However, the historic Hamilton Park area was touched by crime in January of last year when the popular owner of a grocery store on Coles Street was killed during a morning robbery. The case remains unsolved.
John Garvey has been settled in a little longer in Downtown Jersey City with his wife Julie. Residents for about 10 years, the two live in the Paulus Hook section and have a 3-year-old daughter, Eva.
Garvey said that while the kind of shootings that took place at Montgomery Gardens don’t seem to be present in his neighborhood, crime still exists, which he chalks up largely to the current recession.
“We had an au pair from France who was assaulted one night not far from our house,” Garvey said. “Also, a friend of ours had a gun pointed at her head in a robbery.”
Garvey commends the police for being “pretty responsive” to the incidents. But he is still taking precautions. He has invested over $1,000 in a security system for his home.
Still affected by shooting
Meanwhile, residents at Montgomery Gardens were worried last week.
Two ladies who sat on a bench Monday evening in front of 569 Montgomery St., one of the buildings in the complex, recalled what happened the night the girl was shot.
“I heard ‘pop, pop, pop, pop,’ and then I look out and see her [on the ground],” the first lady said. “I almost had a heart attack.”
The first lady said the incident strengthened her perception that “crime is on the rise.” She said City Hall and the police need to do more to stop gun violence and “ignorant” people like the alleged shooter.
The second woman said she was close to the young girl’s family. She said she was in her apartment on the other side of the building when she got a phone call.
“I got the call that she was hit, and I ran as fast I can to be with her,” the second lady said. “I was crying and hoping she wouldn’t die.”
Sidebar
Mid-year crime stats: Murder down, rape up
Crime statistics for Jersey City for the first six months of this year are mixed.
The numbers from January to June cover eight major crime categories – homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny (theft), motor vehicle theft, and arson.
These categories show declines from the same time period last year in four categories, increases in three, and one with no change.
In the first six months of the year, 11 homicides occurred, as opposed to 15 by the end of June last year, a 27 percent decrease. Two more occurred this month, as reported in the July 11 Hudson Reporter briefs, bringing the total of murders to 13 in Jersey City so far this year.
Police investigated 379 robberies, as opposed to 437 last year, a 13 percent drop. There were 339 car thefts, compared to last year’s 416, an 18.5 percent decrease. And police recorded 650 burglaries compared to 664 last year, down 2 percent.
Yet the 30 rape incidents in 2010’s first six months were four more than last year, up 15 percent. Also, police recorded 454 aggravated assaults, a 10 percent hike, and 1,748 larcenies, up .2 percent from last year.
Arson incidents remained the same as 2009, a total of 24. – RK
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.