Authorities in East Orange has launched an investigation into what they believe is a vicious assault on a male that occurred on a street in the city.
Police have not immediately confirmed the circumstances behind the incident, but according to residents who were on the scene, a loud popping noise was followed by police sirens, then a crime scene that closed off a portion of the 200 block of Park Avenue near Grove Street at approximately 9 p.m.
Emergency responders arrived at the scene to find a male victim an alert and conscious male bleeding heavily from his head at that location.
EMS rushed the victim to University Hospital in newark where doctors immediately began to treat the victim for the severe injury according to preliminary reports.
Police set up a crime scene in the vicinity of a sizeable multi-family building at 227 Park Avenue where they focused part of their attention on a pool of blood that was present.
East Orange officials did not return requests for public information, but neighbors in the area told RLS Breaking News that the area that the block has endured a magnitude of drug trafficking and other criminal complaints on a daily basis and has had its share of police activity resulting in no "real solutions."
A longtime resident, who lives near the church on Park and Grove streets, refused to release her identity publicly but said, "I went outside a saw one of the patients from the nearby "mental assistance house" on the ground bleeding and may have fallen but there were way too many cops out there, and with the loud sound that I heard, the poor man appeared to be shot ".
"The patients receiving assistance at the house are out all times of night and are usually on the corner stopping cars and asking for money. I'm not surprised if something happened to one of the patients, but I am sad if it did. The facility is inadequately monitored because the patients do what they want from what I observe", the resident said.
A spokesperson for The Essex County Prosecutor's Office said as of 5:44 am there is no homicide investigation.
Authorities are attempting to determine what caused the man's injury.