Update: The victim was Daniel Pritchard, 29, a Boonton resident, formerly of Verona.
In Verona, residents are reeling over an armed robbery that resulted in a homicide at a Sunoco gas station on Rte. 23 in Verona near Platinum Fitness. The gas station is owned by a Verona family; the name of the victim has not yet been released. A tipster adds the following…
I was filling up at the BP on Broad St in Bloomfield just a short while ago when a police car pulled in to warn them about this incident. The attendant also mentioned to me that apparently a gas station on Bloomfield Ave in Bloomfield was held up within the last few days.
Update: We’ve received unconfirmed reports of a shooting at a Chinese restaurant on Bloomfield Ave. in Montclair; police are looking for suspects in a red car headed in the direction of Glen Ridge. Helicopters from the incident in Verona are covering this area as well.
Yikes, that’s the second time someone has been shot a block from my apartment.
That’s horrible. Any word on whether they suspect a connection between these incidents and the recent laundromat robberies?
Low flying chopper just passed twice in the area of Mountainside with spotlight blazing..four cops at the corner of Highland and Bloomfield Ave.
This is why Barista is so amazing…I had heard the helicopters , the ploce cars, for over 20 min., and was wondering what was happening.
My first thought about getting info like this ( as I did many times before ), was to check out the Barista, to see if they had any news…and of course they did…thanks for the info about what’s going on, in almost real time too.
Do you know which rest. on bloomfield ave. was hit, and was anybody hurt?
Thanks for keeping us all informed…there’s no other site like Barista.
Truly shocking! I live just 2 blocks from this gas station. The number of robberies in our area is most disturbing. What can we as members of a community do to stop this senseless violence and make our neighborhoods safe?
I was wondering what was going on. Walking home from work, around 11 PM, and I live by the Chinese Place and Crocket’s Fish Fry. Saw the cops, tape, and a numbered sign. Then saw two more cars on the other side of Pine St, by a bus stop.
Rumor has it that the Montclair incident was gang related and possibly tied to other robberies in town. It didn’t happen at the Chinese Rest. but in that area close to Pine St.
Very sad about the young man from Verona. Very nice family. Hard working and honest people.
My prayer and sympathy go out to them.
I know of the young man in Verona, and he was a really good kid growing up. Very hard working and was just doing his job.
He came from a wonderful family.
My heart aches for them and I pray for them.
How awful.
Shooting in Montclair-
Man, what a Sunday night. Police helicopter circling above and blacked out police cars tearing up and down residential streets. They were driving around without headlights on, to boot.
I’m guessing they didn’t catch the shooter, since the helicopter never hovered in one spot.
If this is gang related the MPD needs to set an example with a show of force. Catch em’ every time otherwise they feel they can do whatever.
I would like to know more of what happened, please keep us updated, Baristas.
i hope when they catch these bad guys their treated properly and their rights are protected, and handled with care.
SIGNED:
Liberal Bleeding hearts
Someday people will have enough and will be fed up with predators, until then, be afraid and keep looking over your shoulder, and buy more locks/alarms for your doors.
Such a senseless waste of a life.
Sending prayers for the Pritchard family.
Montclair shooting was not a robbery. It was a gang shooting, that took place from a car. Three men from Newark, in the Bloods gang shot a Montclair man, also in the Bloods. He was shot in the leg and stomach and was taken to University. The three men were caught, they split up trying to get away, but didnt get too far. They found a 9mm, and a ditched car with gang items in it.
That’s all I got.
Yes, kudso to B-net for reporting this. There was nothing in the Star-Ledger this AM about either one of these crimes althought there was PLENTY of news about the Crapola Fest otherwise known as the Oscars.
At any rate, my sympathies to the victims and their families.
There was nothing in the Star Ledger because it was probably waiting for actual confirmation of information, not emailed tips from someone who heard from someone who heard from their neighbor who has a dad who is a policeman in Bloomfield that knows someone in Montclair.
BrandyDuval, where did you hear this??
The story was reported in the Star Ledger online edition last night at around 7:30 pm. Here’s the link.
“What can we as members of a community do to stop this senseless violence and make our neighborhoods safe?”
Install bike racks and bike lanes. Funnel all tax revenues to the BOE so they can hire more administrators. Wayfinding signs?
I actually read about the gas station shooting in the Star-Ledger this morning.
I went to grammar school with a few Pritchards. This is probably the son of one of them…Very sad and senseless…
The gas station shooting was on the 11:00 news last night, I think it was NBC.
I’ve passed that Sunoco many times. Damn.
My husband buys gas there as well as the one across the street owned by the Singh family. Very scary and very sad. Crime has definitely gotten worse with this bad economy.
There was an article in the Ledger that said bank robberies are way up in New Jersey fueled by desperation.
I hope when they catch these bad guys they’re treated properly and their rights are protected, and [their rights are[ handled with care.
SIGNED:
Conservative SOB
“There was an article in the Ledger that said bank robberies are way up in New Jersey fueled by desperation.”
Desperation does not lead to murder and robbery – evil does.
Brandyduval hit it right on the head. Same car discription and dred wearing driver has been doing armed robberies for 3 months now.
Wonder why they decided to go after this guy last night. That’s what got them caught.
I have lived here for 35 years and do not ever remember so many armed robberies, shootings, and crime. You may also notice that most of this crime in Montclair is concentrated within a 1/4 mile area of town. I don’t know exactly what the MPD’s current strategy is for keeping that area safe, but it is obviously not working. There needs to be a major police presence in that area 24/7.
Heard the choppers last night. It was so low, my gf went outside thinking that it was landing in our back yard! Was it a red car or a Maroon car?
Nellie, come on now, that the Star-Ledger says it is so does not make it so. The word “desperation” is a sociological reach, and anyway is more appropriate to a description of the Star-Ledger’s own reportorial efforts than the the trending of actual data (which the Ledger story you reference was short on) re bank robberies.
Banks are always robbed for one simple reason, as career bank robber Willie Sutton put it: “because that’s where the money is.” This has held true from the days of the Daltons and Bill Doolin through the heyday of Dillinger and until today. And “desperation” is mere venality and criminality. To believe otherwise is to unwisely romanticize criminals, whatever the prevailing economic climate.
The Verona incident is just a terrible tragedy. Felons seem to imagine a station manned by a lone attendant as a tempting target, yet they also never seem to realize that, just like plainly posted signs always tell them, gas stations never really have much cash on premises. These murderous thugs thus prove as dumb as they are evil and violent.
RoC, there are reasons why people do what they do. People rarely wake up hurt other people for no good reason. We generally identify those kinds of people as crazy. Desperate people do desperate things.
Mikey, your statement above is just pitifully dumb. Almost a new sort of low for you. (But well up to your usual ignorance of grammar, I should add.)
I am so mad I could spit. That poor young man. Somehow I doubt the perpetrator was robbing to feed his starving children. Yet we all know of the violence in Newark. Do we do anything to decrease it? Now it invades our world. Sad, sad, sad. My deepest condolences to the family of the victim. God console them.
An evil system produces evil behavior.
Lasermike, in all seriousness, people “wake up” and kill 29-year-old gas station clerks for a few hundred bucks because they lack any moral framework. Once a person has reached such a point there is little hope for their place in human communities, they should be removed permanently for the protection of others. The “reasons” don’t matter one whit.
Cathar, Yes, I agree in that one should not blindly support a theory, simply because it is reported in the Star-Ledger–or any newspaper. However, I actually agree with laserdoodle on this one in that desperate people can be driven to do desperate things.
That being said, if robberies are indeed accelerating, a follow-up investigative piece to try and definitely pinpoint the cause would certainly be warranted.
RoC,
A terribly horrible thing has occurred. An innocent person has been murdered, a family is experiencing great suffering, and the lose of this person has impacted us all.
Not identifying why something has occurred guarantees that it will happen in the future. I am completely certain that you and I are capable of doing similar evil things if we are put in certain situations. You simply do not know how weak human will is.
And core dumbness produces stunningly dumb, and morally vacuous, posts, dear laserknothead
I think with his most recent post laserfool is shuffling his hairy feet very quickly in a sweaty attempt to cover up the moral obliviousness of his previous posts on this thread. But I do think mikey, of all people, understands how “weak” what he calls human will can be.
Nellie, very little ever suggests that criminals are “desperate.” Lazy, venal and narcissistic, yes. But not really desperate in the sense of a trapped rat. Mikey just buys into such lurid fantasies because they fuel his fevered political dreams of a totalitarian future for us all.
i’m sure the Pritchards appreciate all efforts to introduce politics into the death of their son.
“I am completely certain that you and I are capable of doing similar evil things if we are put in certain situations.”
Speak for yourself, oh morally relative one.
A criminal mentality doesnt need a reason. Lock em up and throw away the key, or better yet, shoot them on sight and rid the world of worthless sub-humans who have no right to exist. Harsh? No, just realistic.
And dangerously short sighted and ineffective.
reminds me of the movie “Crash”. How these events affects other people without ever meeting them. So quick to go back to your stereotypes.
Posted by NoCorzine | February 23, 2009 10:50 AM WROTE:
I have lived here for 35 years and do not ever remember so many armed robberies, shootings, and crime.
That’s because the town keeps it a secret.
The politicizing and the self-righteous views in this blog are making me sick to my stomach. This 29 year old could have been anyone’s son. A hard working son who was trying to make an honest living. My heart goes out to all who loved and knew him.
More heartbreak.
My deepest sympathies to Mr. Pritchard’s family and friends.
Montclair needs more cops!!! It is getting worse out there and we do not have enough police officers to protect our community. Can anyone find out how many officers were on duty last night at the time of the shooting? That info should be released to the public!
Utter Perfection! The ONLY answer BTW.
From Above….
A criminal mentality doesn’t need a reason. Lock em up and throw away the key, or better yet, shoot them on sight and rid the world of worthless sub-humans who have no right to exist. Harsh? No, just realistic
THAT’S where the bulk of the tax money should go (at least for right now): bulking up the police dept. And not just in Montclair. Crime can–and does–happen everywhere.
I think the montclair police department is certainly big enough. They just need to switch up their priorities, rather than having their newly bought chargers posted up in the Edgemont parking lot and on highland avenue watching for speeders and profiling high school students, they should make it a priority to have more patrols around populated areas such as bloomfield ave and areas more prone to crime such as Glenfield Park, and (trying not to sound like i’m stereotyping a huge area) a large portion of downtown past and around nishuane.
I think the montclair police department is certainly big enough. They just need to switch up their priorities, rather than having their newly bought chargers posted up in the Edgemont parking lot and on highland avenue watching for speeders and profiling high school students, they should make it a priority to have more patrols around populated areas such as bloomfield ave and areas more prone to crime such as Glenfield Park, and (trying not to sound like i’m stereotyping a huge area) a large portion of downtown past and around nishuane.
sorry for the repeating posts, still relatively new to this
is there a link or update for that chinese restaurant shooting?
I agree with you, MTCRes18. It’s no secret where the bulk of the violent crimes are committed. So why not beef up patrols in those areas?
i spoke too soon