Councilman Bob Marchese urged the council to ban recreational pot sales while allowing for medicinal trade. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Mixed in among discussions of yard sales and tree removals at the Fair Haven council’s semimonthly meeting Monday night were two issues of concern statewide and beyond: marijuana and guns.
Joining a movement that arose from the slaughter of 17 students and adults at a Florida high school last month, hundreds of protesters marched through downtown Red Bank Saturday as part of a nationwide ‘March for Our Lives‘ effort to demand bans on assault weapons and other legislation to reduce gun violence in schools.
Fair Haven Superintendent Sean McNeil, seen below at a January event, expressed pride in Knollwood students who walked out, but told them there had to be consequences. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Seventy-two Fair Haven middle school students were ordered to report for detention after participating in a walkout Wednesday to mark the one-month anniversary of a mass school shooting in Florida.
Meanwhile, just half a mile away, hundreds of Red Bank Regional High students observed the nationwide walkout without penalty. But the fact that they were sequestered within the confines of the school stadium, and surrounded by police, irked at least one student.
Superintendent Louis Moore speaking at an anti-hate rally in Red Bank last August. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
This essay, titled ‘Schools Will Not Be Secure Until We Address Access to Lethal Weapons,’ was submitted to redbankgreen by Red Bank Regional High Superintendent Louis Moore.
Since the tragedy at Columbine High School almost 20 years ago, school districts have implemented measures to protect students and staff from the threat of a mass shooting. Entrances have been hardened with “mantraps” and bullet resistant glass. “Active shooter” drills are now regularly conducted along with fire drills. New security staff have been hired and all staff are trained on best security practices.
Yet the brutal massacre in Parkland, Florida demonstrates that schools remain vulnerable and the threat is ongoing. Read More
Amy Downey offered cookies prior to the start of a Moms Demand Action orientation meeting that drew a full house to Shapiro’s Tuesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The murders of 17 people by a gunman in Florida last week prompted a hasty new-member orientation in Red Bank Tuesday night for an organization dedicated to what it calls “common sense gun laws.”
Volunteers with Moms Demand Action said the February 14 slaughter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland has unleashed a surge of interest unseen since the group’s founding five years ago in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut murders of 27 children and adults.
Authorities cordoned off Ridge Road from Bellevue Avenue, above, to Buena Vista Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A suicide with a firearm prompted a heavy turnout of police and armored vehicles in Rumson Sunday morning, a spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office said.
Held in response to the the sniper attack that killed 59 concertgoers and wounded hundreds more in Las Vegas Sunday night, the event ended with a shared lighting of candles. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Once again, Red Bank area residents gathered for a march and vigil Wednesday night to protest senseless, gun-related violence in America.
This time, the brief event, attended by about 50 participants, had a more consistently political, rather than spiritual, tone.
Red Bank-area religious and political leaders are once again organizing an anti-violence vigil, this time in the aftermath of the Las Vegas sniper attack that killed at least 58 concertgoers and wounded hundreds more in Las Vegas Sunday night.
By JOHN T. WARD
A 41-year-old man suffered a superficial wound when a gun was fired during an altercation at a strip mall in Red Bank early Saturday morning, according to police Chief Darren McConnell.
By JOHN T. WARD
A former Red Bank man found guilty last month in the 2014 shooting of a man as he sat in a parked car on Willow Street was sentenced to 50 years in state prison Friday, according to an announcement by Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
By JOHN T. WARD
A former Red Bank man who did time for a double shooting in 2007 was found guilty in the 2014 shooting of a man as he sat in a parked car in Red Bank, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced Tuesday afternoon.
Anthony Sims, seen in the decade-old photo at right, was convicted of first-degree attempted murder in the April 9, 2014 attack on Perry Veney Jr., who is separately charged with later participation in the murder of Sims’ brother in Eatontown.
By JOHN T. WARD
A former Red Bank man who did time for a double shooting in 2007 was in court again Tuesday, this time accused of the 2014 shooting of a man as he sat in a parked car on Willow Street.
But witnesses in the Freehold trial of Anthony Sims have been instructed not to say anything in front of jurors about a second set of charges, in which the victim in this case, Perry Veney Jr., is alleged to have later participated in the murder of Sims’ brother, the Asbury Park Press reported Tuesday.
By JOHN T. WARD
A man who was shot six times as he sat in a car parked in Red Bank almost three years ago was charged with a murder committed in Eatontown 15 months later, the Monmouth County Prosecutor announced Friday.
Perry Veney, 30, a former Red Bank resident whose last address was in Long Branch, was one of two men charged in the murder of Rasheem Palmer, 37, at the entrance to the Country Club Apartments complex in July, 2015, according to a prepared statement by Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
Police tape in a trash can a day after the November, 2014, shooting, which occurred near the telephone pole at center above. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The alleged gunman who shot two people seated in a truck parked on Red Bank’s West Side almost two years ago has been arrested.
Inow Rainey, 26 of Stony Hill Road in Eatontown, was arrested Friday and charged with attempted murder in the November 6, 2014 shooting, which left a man partially paralyzed and a woman briefly in critical condition.
It was also the first in a series of shootings in the area that police attributed to grudges and had neighbors on edge.
Red Bank police are asking for the public’s help in identifying a man who fired at least two shots on the West Side Wednesday afternoon.
Chief Darren McConnell told redbankgreen Wednesday night that police recovered two shell casings from the scene of the 4:15 p.m. incident, on Tilton Avenue near West Bergen Place.
Red Bank police are investigating a report of shots fired on the West Side Wednesday afternoon, according to Chief Darren McConnell.
No one has been found to have been injured in the purported shooting, which occurred at about 4:15 p.m. on Tilton Avenue near the corner of West Sunset Avenue, he said.
Washington Street resident Evan Sabo, 10, and his mom, Brett Sabo, showed up at the Red Bank council meeting Wednesday night clad in orange to accept a proclamation declaring Gun Violence Awareness Day in the borough, slated for Thursday, June 2.
Moms Demand Action, which organized the nationwide event, is asking the public to wear orange that day, in a nod to the orange vests hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves. Brett’s involved in the New Jersey chapter, and Evan, a student at the Mastro Montessori School in Shrewsbury, lobbied Mayor Pasquale Menna for the proclamation, Menna said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Governor Chris Christie in Sea Bright in October, 2013, above, and state Senator Jen Beck in Red Bank last May. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Three days after he vetoed a bill that would have prevented convicted carjackers, gang members and other felons from legally obtaining guns, Governor Chris Christie has said why: it’s “dopey,” he claimed, according to a report by the Record, of Bergen County.
The bill, co-sponsored by Red Bank resident and state Senator Jen Beck, is evidence of “stupid stuff” elected officials do to impress their constituents, Christie said at a campaign event Thursday in New Hampshire, where he’s competing in the Republican presidential primary.
Red Bank police arrested a borough man on drug and weapons charges, Chief Darren McConnell said in a prepared statement issued Friday afternoon.
Here’s the full text:
A Red Bank man faces gun- and drug possession charges after a family dispute at the Montgomery Terrace apartments Tuesday morning, police Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
Officers responding to the West Side complex on a disturbance call at 8:35 a.m. were told by witnesses that one of the men involved in the dispute had a handgun in the waist of his pants, McConnell said.
The victim in a fatal shooting in Eatontown early last Friday was a Red Bank man, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office confirmed Monday afternoon.
Rasheem Palmer, 37, died at 2:47 a.m. Friday at Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune, two and a half hours after he was found lying wounded in the roadway at the the entrance to the Country Club Apartments, according to prosecutor’s spokesman Charles Webster.
By JOHN T. WARD
A Philadelphia man was in custody Monday after firing a pistol inside a Rumson residence Sunday night, police said.
But Robert Toros, 36, was charged with contempt of court and not for any violations relating to the discharge of the gun, though additional charges may be brought, Detective Chris Isherwood told redbankgreen Monday.
By JOHN T. WARD
Rumson police were questioning two people Sunday night following an incident in which a gun was fired multiple times inside the basement of a home here.
No one was injured in the incident, which came less than 24 hours after a domestic dispute at the same address, on Auldwood Lane, Chief Scott Paterson told redbankgreen.
The crime and arrest reports below were provided by the Red Bank Police Department for the period of February 12 to February 19, 2015. This information is unedited.
CRIMES
Robbery occurring on 2-13-15 at West Bergen Place—Liquor Store. Unknown male displayed handgun and stole cash and a cell phone. Fled on foot. Ptl. Cevin Albert [Clarification: Police Chief Darren McConnell says this robbery, of a pedestrian, occurred near the West Bergen Place entrance to the Montgomery Terrace Apartments, and that the victim called police from outside Yogi’s Liquors, at West Bergen and Leighton Avenue. The gunman, who fled into the apartment complex, was described as a black male, about 5 foot 11, 150 or 160 pounds, wearing black pants, a black North Face jacket, black Nike sneakers and red-rimmed glasses.]
Criminal Mischief occurring between 2-12-15 and 2-13-15 at West Front St. Church. Unknown actor(s) broke three spotlights knocking them off of a post. Ptl. Benjamin Springer
By JOHN T. WARD
A 25-year-old Tinton Falls woman studying law in New Orleans was shot and killed by her boyfriend before he turned the gun on himself sometime over the past weekend, according to a report by NOLA.com.
Sara Lamont, described as a “brilliant” student specializing in sports law, was killed by her 28-year-old boyfriend and classmate, Wajih Mazloum, in the apartment they’d shared for the past year, according to the report. Another roommate discovered their bodies Sunday morning.
“Everybody’s just in shock, a lot of people in tears,” said Father Alberto Tamayo, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church in Red Bank, where Lamont was a congregant, a reader and choir member.