Fatal mall car jacking in gun free New Jersey

[ELB]

Pivoting off of the fatal carjacking in the OP, we find this news article:
Newark's Carjacking Epidemic

But the media has been known to sensationalize -- no really, sometimes they do -- so let's look further:

There are about 400 carjackings a year in Essex County alone. While Los Angeles and New York rank high in carjackings, Newark takes the cake.

In fact, people in Newark are known for posting videos of stolen cars doing drag races, donuts and drifting in the streets. Often times, in the videos, you can see cop cars chasing the reckless divers on the city’s main streets.

From earlier this year:

Newark carjackings increase for fourth straight year

Hmmm. Maybe they have a point. Video report also at first link.

[philip964]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/surveillance-v ... d=26880244" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ABC news decided to do a new feature story on this mall killing in New Jersey a year ago. Shows video footage of the killers casing the night before.

[jimlongley]

Any shopping center parking lot at 2100 hrs. in Newark, NJ. Nope, not me, not never. For that matter, I ain't never going back to NJ again for nothing forever not even in the daytime.

The Short Hills mall isn't in Newark. It is about 14 miles to the west in a VERY upscale area where crimes of this type are infrequent - in other words, what people call a "safe area."

Sadly, they often confuse low frequency with immunity and are shocked when reality intrudes on that fantasy.

Then they all gather around the crime scene tape clucking "I never thought something like this could happen here." They may even lock their car doors and look around once or twice before getting into their vehicles for a week or two.

After two weeks, they're almost all back to doing what they did before - providing a fertile victim pool for any willing opportunist.

I stand corrected, the article subhead was Newark, NJ. That said, I was in and out of 'Joisey' during construction of the WTC's and have no intention of ever going back up there no where no time.

Thank you, Excaliber for the clarification.

It was a technical detail only to help our members understand this didn't happen in an obvious gang war zone where such things should be expected, but about 14 miles away in a very wealthy suburb where "hunting parties" from gangland are uncommon, but where those who venture forth will find a target rich environment.

Your take on Jersey is spot on. I have to travel there from time to time, and it's high on my list of least favorite places to visit because of its government.

I was going to point out that "upscale" and Newark were contradictions in terms.