I wonder if our mayor reads the APP?
Police find Asbury teen shot dead
Prosecutor says public's help needed to make arrest in case
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/20/07
BY MICHELLE SAHN
STAFF WRITER
ASBURY PARK A 19-year-old Asbury Park man was fatally shot Thursday night in
a
public housing complex off Atkins Avenue in the city.
Around 10:25 p.m., city police went to Asbury Park Village after receiving a
report of shots
fired and a man who was "down," according to a news release from the Monmouth
County
Prosecutor's Office.
When they arrived, they found Justin Johnson, 19, of Atlantic Avenue, lying on
the ground
with an apparent gunshot wound, the news release said. First Assistant Monmouth
County
Prosecutor Peter E. Warshaw Jr. would not say how many times the man was shot.
Johnson was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where
he was
pronounced dead at 11:15 p.m.
"This shooting took place in a residential area at a time of the evening when
there were
likely a number of people in the vicinity," Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A.
Valentin
said in a prepared statement. "Individuals possessing information regarding
this matter
must come forward and talk to the police. The public's assistance is needed if
we are to
bring the individual or individuals responsible for Mr. Johnson's death to
justice."
Johnson is the fourth person to be killed by gunfire in the city this year. In
June, a 66-
year-old city man, Gary Allen, was killed inside his Borden Avenue house, and
less than
two weeks later, a 30-year-old city man, Derek Grier, was shot to death on the
street, near
the corner of Asbury Avenue and Comstock Street.
In August, 60-year-old Charlton "Junie" Mack Jr. was killed when a stray bullet
pierced the
closed window of his Comstock Street home in the city. In that case,
authorities have said
the accused gunman was aiming at someone else.
Arrests have been made in both the Grier and Mack cases.
In addition to the fatal shootings, a Bass River resident, James C. Morrison,
25, was fatally
assaulted outside a boardwalk nightclub in January. A Brooklyn man has been
charged
with manslaughter in that case.
Also, in August, prosecutors revealed that a 30-year-old city man, Hipolito V.
Avellanes,
was injured in a fight in May in the city and died the next day. Prosecutors
have said a 37-
year-old city man was charged with aggravated assault in connection with the
case, and
Avellanes' death remains under investigation.
Comments;
"Yeah, I guess there are some cool restaurants and shops on Cookman and
Mattison
aveunes, but do you really want to spend MANY hundreds of thousands of dollars
to buy a
condo in a city where this kind of stuff (and lots more serious but not so
deadly crimes)
goes on all the time? Not me!"
----------------------------------------------
"leon, everything is good in asbury park. the APP just picks on the city by
putting these
stories out there. there is nothing wrong with asbury park.
(sarcasm).
seriously, anyone who buys ANYWHERE in asbury park needs his/her head examined.
why on earth would you drop hundreds of thousands of $$$ on property in the
city, when
you can go to belmar or spring lake, spend a comparable amount, and have low
crime,
good schools, a police presence, and not be afraid to walk the streets at
night?"
-----------------------------------------------
"the REASON u would continue to buy property in asbury park would be because in
new
york where you would spend MILLIONS of dollars on property with a much higher
rate of
crime. granted asbury is unsafe at times it is in no way as dangerous as new
york or
camden or even newark the people who buy property there has not given up on the
fact
that there can be change as well as they should'nt their revenue can help put
an end to
some of the violence cause keep it real the city will protect its revenue
TRUST!"
----------------------------------------------
"How many more people have to get killed in this city before someone (governer,
mayor,
police chief, county prosecutor, state police; somebody, anybody) gets the guts
to go in
there and clean it up even if it means trampling on some civil liberties for a
while.
Asbury Park is "open season" on anybody and everybody!
As far as buying property there - no one in their right mind should make any
kind of
financial investment in Asbury Park until the city shows a serious and real
committment to
safety and security for its residents and those who work and own businesses
there."
------------------------------------------------
"The problem is the majority of the current residents that live in the
town...they are
animals...they can't even show some hint of humanity or civility..it's a shame
and I know
the comments will come calling me a racist but wake up people and face the
truth...The
only way your going to fix that town is move the problems which is mainly one
group of
people to Camden, Newark or some rathole like that.....Asbury can never come
back to
what ot once was if these people reamin there....Who is going to move their
family into
that slum knowing your going to have to also fork out money to send your kids
to private
school out of town since the school system in Asbury Park is as bad as the
town...."
------------------------------------------------
"you can't say asbury as a whole is horrible, this part of town is where the
majority of
crime happens. it is a horrible complex, you may call it the projects...so you
can't judge
a.p. from this."
-----------------------------------------------
"Come on people- a 19 year old young man is DEAD- he was someones son, brother,
friend- my thoughts and prayers are with his family."
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