An Open Public Records Act request submitted to the Essex County Prosecutors Office by RLS Media asking for information regarding homicides in Essex County from January 1, 2016, through July 29th, 2016 has been promptly delivered to us in early August.
We have compiled some informative details that were received from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office through this OPRA request that we want to share with you.
Our staff has crossed referenced this information with homicide reports submitted to us as they occurred, incident by incident, through the Prosecutor's Office.
Essex County homicide investigations breakdown provided by the Open Public Records Act January through July (some August):
**LIVINGSTON NJ:** There were two (2) homicides. In **March**, one (1) person was killed by blunt forced trauma. In **May**, one (1) victim was killed by compression to the neck.
**IRVINGTON NJ:** In **May**, there was one (1) male victim who suffered a single fatal gunshot wound.
**EAST ORANGE NJ:** A total of about eight (8) instances of gunfire around the city killed four (4) people with one (1) person killed by compression to the throat.
**Here is your monthly breakdown.** In **February**, one (1) person was killed by throat compression, while one (1) person died after being shot multiple times. In **April**, one (1) person died of a single gunshot wound, while one (1) person was killed after being shot multiple times. In **July**, one (1) person was killed after being shot multiple times.
There were no homicide investigations for August and **a total of five (5)** so far this year. **NOTE:** An OPRA request submitted to the city of East Orange had the police department declining to provide an **exact** number of actual shooting instances that occurred around the city for the time period.
**ORANGE NJ:** A total of about nine (10) instances of shootings killed four (4) people around the city.
**This is how the months break down.** In **April**, one (1) person was killed from a single gunshot wound, while one (1) person was killed after being shot multiple times. In **July**, two (2) people suffered fatally after being shot multiple times.
In **August**, one (1) person was found dead in an apartment in the city. Unknown cause according to The Prosecutor's Office.
**NEWARK NJ:** Fifty-nine (59) homicide investigations, plus nine (9) August homicides gives you 68 total incidents as of Thursday, August 25, 2016.
In January, eight (8) people died of single gunshot wounds while three (3) were shot multiple times, one (1) was killed by strangulation and (1) was killed by compression to the neck. **Total 13**
In **February**, one (1) person was killed by a single gunshot, while five (5) people were killed after being shot multiple times. **Total 6**
In **March** four (4) people were killed after being shot multiple times, while one (1) person was killed from a single gunshot and one (1) person was stabbed to death. **Total 6**
In **April**, three (3) people were killed from a single gunshot wound, while five (5) people killed after being shot multiple times. **Total 8**
In **May**, eight (8) people were killed after being shot multiple times while one (1) person was killed by compressions to the neck and two (2) people died from single gunshot wounds. **Total 11**
In **June**, two (2) people were killed after being shot multiple times while two (2) people died of single gunshot wounds. One (1) person's fatality is UNKNOWN. **Total 5**
In **July**, nine (9) people were killed after being shot multiple times while one (1) person died of a single gunshot wound. **Total 10**
**Please NOTE, the following numbers for the month of August were NOT requested through the Open Public Records Act. We will provide details from information obtained per occurrence from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.**
This is what we have (unofficially) for August: Nine (9) homicide investigations. We are breaking it down like this, eight (8) people were killed from gunshot injuries while one (1) person was struck by a vehicle that was in pursuit by police.
**We are providing the names of the August victims in order of their fatalities:**
1. Nafee Moore
2. Bilal Rodgers
3. Joshua Moore
4. Chyna Willis (Struck by vehicle being pursued)
5. Kevin Baker
6. Robbert Harris
7. Akbar Scott
8. Sirree Samod Scales
9. Jessica Todsco
We hope that this eight (8) month breakdown will assist in keeping the community informed of their surroundings.
We would like to THANK our entire Metro Breaking News staff, the community, and our legal team/advisors for assisting.
As always, our service is FREE to the public.
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