Six shootings, plus stabbing and robbery in JC
JERSEY CITY AND BEYOND – Happy New Year was anything but in Jersey City for victims of six shootings, a stabbing, and an armed robbery on both Friday and Saturday.
According to police spokesperson Lt. Edgar Martinez, a little before midnight on Friday, a 16-year-old Jersey City resident suffered life-threatening injuries after being shot on Grant Avenue in the abdomen three times and once in the back. He was taken to Jersey City Medical Center where he was hospitalized in stable condition.
Martinez then said around 2 a.m., a shoot-out took place outside Brenda’s Place, a bar on Ocean Avenue near New Street, that required units from several police districts at the scene to break up fights that erupted in the aftermath of the shootout. Martinez said Rashauan Johnson, 21, of Jersey City, was charged with aggravated assault and various weapons charges for use of an allegedly stolen gun, and suffered a gunshot wound in the side and was rushed into emergency surgery in critical condition.
Then around 2:30 a.m., a 21-year-old man from Irvington was shot twice, in each hip, on Virginia Avenue during a shooting that stemmed from an argument among a group of friends. Martinez said the victim did not cooperate with police.
Around 3 a.m., Martinez said, police responded to a shooting on Bidwell Avenue where a 26-year-old Jersey City man suffered a non life-threatening gunshot wound.
At 4 a.m., Martinez said, a man was shot in the leg at a hotel on Second Street in downtown Jersey City. A suspect was identified in this shooting, Martinez said.
And at approximately 4:45 a.m. Saturday morning, police responding to a report of a gunshot at a building on Halladay Street discovered a badly beaten man who was bleeding profusely from his face and mouth. Martinez said a suspect was identified in this incident.
In five of the six shooting incidents, no one was arrested and police are still seeking out suspects.
Along with the shootings, Martinez said an armed robbery occurred at around 8 p.m. Friday at a liquor store on Route 440 across the street from Hudson Mall, which was followed by a car jacking of a jitney van that stopped at the traffic light near the store. According to Martinez, two men entered the store and robbed $4,000. No one in the store was hurt nor the driver of the van, Martinez said. Police are still looking for the two suspects.
And Martinez said around 2:45 a.m. Saturday, a Bayonne man was arrested on River Court in the Newport area on charges of aggravated assault for attacking another man with a knife, cutting the man’s ear, nose, throat and chest. The victim did not sustain serious injuries.
Car disappears during Hoboken snowball fight
HOBOKEN – When four women got out of their car to deal with people throwing snowballs on New Year’s Eve in Hoboken, the vehicle somehow disappeared, according to a police report.
A car with four Hoboken women was reportedly ambushed by a team of approximately 10 snowball throwers at 3 a.m. on Jan. 1 near First Street and Park Avenue, according to police. A report says that while three of the women exited the vehicle to approach the snowball throwers, one woman stayed behind in the backseat. When the altercation with the snowball throwers ended, the three Hoboken women returned to find the car missing. They stated that they had not seen anyone get in the vehicle and drive it away, according to a police report.
A visit to the then missing woman’s home to find her yielded negative results, according to police. After police called the woman’s cell phone in an attempt to obtain her location by way of a “ping” through T-Mobile, an officer responded back to the victim’s residence and found that the woman was safe at home, according to the report. According to one report, the woman stated that she was let out of the car in Union City
“It is unknown what transpired or if the vehicle was actually stolen,” according to a police report. “Further investigation was ongoing.”
NORTH JERSEY – Giants quarterback Eli Manning will have more time to stroll the streets of his hometown of Hoboken now that his Giants lost their chance to make the NFL postseason last Sunday. However, the Jets and quarterback Mark Sanchez will be playing in the playoffs this weekend after earning a 11-5 record in the regular season.
The Jets will take on the Colts in Indianapolis.
Testimony ends in odd Secaucus school case
SECAUCUS – An administrative law judge hearing the case of a former Secaucus Board of Education employee has given attorneys 45 days to submit legal briefs and other subpoenaed materials to the court. Administrative Law Judge Ellen S. Bass – who is hearing the case of former administrative assistant Natalizia “Natalie” Busnelli Aljallad, whom the Board of Trustees voted to terminate in June – made the ruling on Dec. 29.
Testimony in the matter, which began in October, also ended on Dec. 29 with Busnelli taking the stand for the stand in her defense.
According to interviews and affidavits obtained by the Reporter, Busnelli, who has recently gone back to using her maiden name, was terminated from her job as a tenured administrative aide in the board office on Jan. 21, following allegations that she sexually harassed a Secaucus Police officer assigned to Secaucus High School as a safety officer, made false statements to the same police officer, and made slanderous statements against two Board of Education trustees.
The alleged incidents took place a year ago in December 2009, according to an affidavit from Schools Superintendent Cynthia Randina.
In January 2010 she was suspended without pay from her job, and the Board of Trustees ultimately voted in June to terminate her employment with the Board of Education, a termination she is fighting.
In November the board was required by state law to put Busnelli back on the payroll, even though she is not back at work. Gene Manfra, a spokesman for the Board of education explained last month that, “The four month time period typically set aside to resolve these matters had expired. By statute, the employee must be paid until the judge issues a ruling, even if the final determination indicates wrongdoing.”
The matter is now before the New Jersey Office of Administrative Law in Newark. No jury is involved in the case. Judge Bass could render a decision in the matter by April.
The Office of the Hudson County Prosecutor has already dismissed a criminal complaint against Busnelli that stemmed from these same allegations, according to a document from the prosecutor’s office. – —E. Assata Wright
Hudson County Animal League to host upcoming events
BAYONNE AND JERSEY CITY – he Hudson County Animal League (HCAL) will have a series of events in coming weeks in Bayonne.
On Jan. 9 they will host a bus trip to Mt. Airy Lodge in the Poconos. The bus leaves E. 35th Street (between Avenue E & Broadway) at 10:30 a.m. sharp. Tickets are $35.
Other events include: Jan. 28 – Tricky Tray at St. Michael’s Community Center, 21 E. 23rd Street. Tickets are $12; Jan. 29 – Adoption Day at Petland in Bayonne from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Also, league meetings are on the second Thursday of each month 7 p.m. (except August and December) at First Federated Church, 33rd Street and Avenue C in Bayonne, and on third Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. in August and December at the Pershing Field Community Center between Summit and Central avenues in Jersey City.
And Hudson County Animal League is looking for volunteers and foster parents for their Senior Citizens Foster Adoption Program and Adoption Days at HCAL. For more information or to order tickets, contact (201) 200-1008, Phyllis at (201) 339-4517, Margaret at (201) 339-8466, Franca at (201) 926-5529 and Lorma at (201) 437-7263, or visit www.hcalnj.org. If you have a car, truck, van, boat or RV and looking to donate to a charity, call 800-320-0476 and reference The Hudson County Animal League. Pickup will be arranged and HCAL will receive the net proceeds. The donor will receive a tax deduction for their donations.