According to Maplewood Police Chief Jimmy DeVaul, at approximately 3:45 p.m. Saturday, dispatch received multiple calls of gunshots in the area of 88 Tiffany Place.
As a result, Chief DeVaul said officers responded to the area and located a female standing near a Honda Accord, which had heavy front-end damage.
It was involved in a crash with another vehicle and is no longer operational.
During the check of the area, officers located a shell casing on Tiffany Place and immediately shut down the roadway while they continued to search the area.
Chief DeVaul said a thorough search of the area produced four suspicious males standing on the corner of Elmwood Avenue and Elmwood Terrace.
At that point, officers converged on the area and detained the males. Chief DeVaul said Maplewood Officers immediately began speaking with the males. At that point, one of the males advised officers that the other three males stopped were in the rear of his residence, and upon them noticing him, they fled towards Elmwood Terrace.
He further advised officers that he followed them to determine what was happening.
Chief DeVaul said officers noticed that three males were injured and determined from gunshot wounds.
Immediately after that, emergency medical services responded to the scene and transported the males to Rutgers University hospital along with Maplewood Police. The injuries were determined to be non-life-threatening.
The Maplewood Detective Bureau was notified and responded to the scene to begin investigating this incident.
During the investigation, Chief DeVaul said it was revealed that these three males were seen fleeing from Honda Accord after the shooting. Officers confirmed that the Honda Accord was traveling east on Tiffany Place when it was involved in an accident with a dark-colored BMW SUV.
They observed a black male exit the passenger seat of the dark-colored BMW and began firing shots into the Honda.
Chief DeVaul said it must be noted that officers attempted to ascertain further, but the shooting victims did not wish to discuss this incident with officers.
However, one of the males agreed to speak with officers but only provided limited information.
“It should also be noted that the driver of the Honda stated that there was a fifth person inside of the car at the time of the shooting but did not know the female’s name nor where she lived,” Chief DeVaul said.
Officers could not locate any additional people involved in this incident during their canvass of the area.
Chief DeVaul said his police were assisted by the Essex County Sheriff Department, who responded to the area of 88 Tiffany with a K9 dog trained to search for weapons in the area with negative results.
Detectives processed the crime scene and recovered several 9mm shell casings.
No weapon has been recovered at this time. Detectives will continue to investigate the shooting incident even though the victims have failed to provide information related to the investigation.
“We have determined there is no nexus to Maplewood or the immediate area. The occupants are not from the area and did not know where they were at the time of the accident and subsequent shooting,” Chief DeVaul said.
It is believed that they were being followed for some time before the shooting incident.
It is unknown if the parties know each other.
Detectives will continue canvassing the area for witnesses and video.
“We ask for cooperation from the public to provide whatever information or assistance they can provide.
There is no reason to believe any further danger exists in regard to this incident. There will be an increased Police presence in the area,” Chief DeVaul said.