**"I thought the Bears Baseball Stadium was shooting off fireworks for the afternoon because there were so many shots and loud booms" (Spruce Street resident)**
Multiple rounds of gunfire erupted on a Central Ward Street Sunday afternoon sending residents in the area scrambling for cover and authorities investigating.
Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray and Newark Police Director Eugene Venable have announced that authorities are investigating the incident where three people were shot, one fatally.
According to authorities from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, shortly before 2:30 p.m., Newark police officers were dispatched to the 100 block of Spruce Street on a report of a shots fired.
Authorities said arriving officers discovered that three male victims had been shot while in front of an apartment building. Authorities said the three victims were transported to University Hospital, where of one them was pronounced dead at approximately 2:57 pm, according to Chief Assistant Prosecutor Thomas S. Fennelly of the Prosecutor's Homicide Unit.
Fennelly identified the deceased victim as **Theodore Norwood, age 48 of Newark,**. The other victims, 31 and 21-year-old males, both from Newark, are being treated for non-life threatening injuries, according to Fennelly.
Fennelly said the identities of the surviving victims are being withheld for security reasons.
This incident is investigated by the Essex County Prosecutor's Major Crimes Task Force, which includes detectives from the Newark Police Department. The investigation is active and ongoing at this time, according to Fennelly.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Task Force detectives at (877) 847-7432 or (973) 621-4586.