Essex County authorities are on the search for several men who are responsible for firing a barrage of bullets from a vehicle near a daycare center and an elementary school in Newark's West Ward that fatally wounded a man on Thursday afternoon.
The incident happened in the 200 blocks of 14th Avenue near South 14th Street -just before 2:05 p.m.- sending police to the scene where officers immediately taped the area off after locating shell casings and the body of a male lying on the ground according to preliminary reports.
According to authorities, police closed traffic on 14th Avenue that stretched about a block from the West Side High School on the South 14th Street side as EMS rushed 21-year-old Mr. Hassan Smith to University Hospital where doctors attempted to treat his severe injuries.
The nearby KIPP NJ Rise Academy elementary school placed students and staff on a shelter in place status as police investigated the crime scene.
According to family members of Smith, doctors pronounced him dead a short time later.
Police are looking for a 4-door vehicle that was reported stolen out of Little Ferry and occupied by at least four suspects who carelessly sprayed the area with bullets before speeding eastbound on 14th Avenue according to reports.
According to reports, at approximately 12:30 a.m. this morning -Friday- Cedar Grove Police stopped a vehicle that fit the description of the silver Infinity SUV that sped away from the Newark homicide. Officers attempted to pull the car over in the 80's block of Pompton Avenue when the driver ignored the officers' lights and sirens.
Several suspects reportedly bailed from the car a short distance away and ran into the wooded area where police chased, then captured at least two of three unidentified males.
There is no confirmation of the males captured being responsible for the 14th Avenue homicide at this time.
Detectives from The Essex County Prosecutor's Office has taken over the investigation into the motive for the fatal shooting.