An Elizabeth man has been criminally charged in connection with a fatal stabbing that took place earlier this weekend, acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo announced Sunday.
Officials say Mr. Javier Ramirez-Jimenez, 48, is charged with reckless manslaughter, a second-degree crime, for being responsible for the death of 67-year-old Carlos Ariza, also of Elizabeth.
According to Union County officials, shortly before 11:45 p.m. on Friday, February 14, Elizabeth Police Department officers responded to the 500 block of Elizabeth Avenue on a report of an altercation, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Armando Suarez, who is prosecuting the case.
Arriving officers found Ariza at the scene, having sustained a stab wound to the torso. He was transported to University Hospital in Newark, where he was pronounced dead at approximately 1:20 a.m. on Saturday.
A joint investigation led by the Union County Homicide Task Force and assisted by members of its investigative partner agencies, the Elizabeth Police Department and the Union County Sheriff’s Office, resulted in Ramirez-Jimenez being identified as a suspect in the case.
The investigation ultimately determined that Ariza and Ramirez-Jimenez had engaged in an argument in a parked vehicle that escalated to physical violence, and during the altercation, Ariza sustained a fatal injury.
Ramirez-Jimenez was taken into custody without incident and lodged in the Union County Jail pending a first appearance and detention hearing, scheduled to take place in Superior Court.
This investigation remains ongoing, and anyone with information about this matter is urged to contact Task Force Sgt. Danika Ramos at 908-451-7739 or Detective Brandon Lorenz at 908-337-3230.
Convictions on criminal charges of this nature are commonly punishable by up to 10 years in state prison.
These criminal charges are mere accusations. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.