Rabbi Dov Goldberg addressing the at Congregation B’Nai Israel Monday night. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Pain and insecurity were in the air as hundreds of Jews and non-Jewish supporters packed temples in Rumson and Tinton Falls Monday night to mourn the killing of 11 worshippers in a Pittsburgh synagogue two days earlier.
Red Bank Lieutenant Juan Sardo and community members discussed policing during a breakout session Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Some two dozen Monmouth County cops and community members gathered in the basement of a Red Bank church Tuesday afternoon to tackle a hot topic: police-involved shootings.
Among the aims: understanding why such incidents are increasingly polarizing.
In the wake of 26 murders by a heavily armed gunman in a Sutherland Springs, Texas, church last Sunday morning, Red Bank area religious leaders plan to meet with law enforcement officials to discuss security issues this week.
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.
In the aftermath of a violent assault on the Planned Parenthood health center in Colorado Springs that left three people shot dead and nine wounded last month, local faith leaders and elected officials plan to gather in support of the organization outside its health facility on Newman Springs Road in Shrewsbury on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m.
In keeping with similar events being held nationwide this week, supporters “are calling for an end to the violent rhetoric that fuels this toxic environment” of anti-Planned Parenthood extremism, said area spokeswoman Casey Olesko. (Archive photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
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.
Police Chief Darren McConnell and Mayor Pasquale Menna at a community meeting on the recent shootings last month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Responding to requests for increased community engagement, in the aftermath of recent shootings on the West Side, the Red Bank police department has scheduled an open forum for next week.
Here’s the announcement, sent out by borough hall Monday:
Residents packed a hastily organized community meeting on the recent shootings Tuesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank police believe they know who’s behind a recent spate of West Side shootings, including one Monday night, but are hamstrung by a lack of evidence sufficient to obtain search warrants, Chief Darren McConnell said Tuesday night.
“Do we have an idea who’s doing this? Yes, we do,” McConnell told a packed community meeting at borough hall, less than 24 hours after the latest gunfire, on West Westside Avenue, “but we can’t prove it yet.”
A string of shootings on the West Side, including one Monday night, has prompted Red Bank officials to schedule a community meeting for Tuesday night.
From an announcement sent out by the borough at noontime Tuesday:
Mayor Pasquale Menna and Police Commissioner Arthur Murphy have scheduled a Community Meeting for 7pm tonight, Tuesday, December 23, 2014 in the Council Chamber/Courtroom on the first floor of the Municipal Building at 90 Monmouth Street to address concerns about a recent incident on West Westside Avenue. Police Chief Darren McConnell will be available to address the situation.
A view east along West Westside Avenue, the scene of Tuesday night’s shooting, in which a parked car was struck by two bullets and at least eight shots were fired. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Off-duty Red Bank police officers out delivering Christmas presents for the PBA heard the gunfire in Monday night’s shooting on the West Side, police Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
“They were literally a block and half away” and immediately responded to the scene, on West Westside Avenue just a few doors east of Leighton Avenue, arriving even before nearby residents had called in the 8:39 p.m. shots, he said.
By the time they got there, however, the shooter or shooters, and any intended targets, were gone, McConnell said.
By JOHN T. WARD
A shooting in which a vehicle was struck by at least one bullet Monday night is believed to be related to two shootings in November, Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna tells redbankgreen.
“The good thing is no one was injured” in the latest incident, which occurred at about 8 p.m. near Leighton Avenue and West Westside Avenue, Menna said.
By JOHN T. WARD
A vehicle was struck but no one was injured when shots were fired on Red Bank’s West Side Monday night, NJ.com reported.
The shooting occurred within the same three-block area of a November shooting that left two people critically injured and another shooting in which a parked car was shot up in broad daylight two days later.
Kirsten Ramirez speaks with police Captain Mike Clay after Monday night’s council meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank residents put elected officials in the hot seat Monday night for their response to two shootings on the West Side earlier this month.
Addressing Mayor Pasquale Menna and the six-member council at a bimonthly meeting, West Westside Avenue resident Jill Burden criticized what she called a “lack of communication or even acknowledgement” of the concerns of neighbors following the shootings, which occurred less than two days apart.
Police were still on the scene of the River Street shooting at 2 p.m. Saturday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Yet another shooting involving a parked vehicle rocked the West Side of Red Bank Saturday, the second such attack in little more than 24 hours, and the third in seven months.
But unlike the Thursday night incident, in which a man and a woman were shot and critically injured as they sat in a pickup truck, it’s unclear if anyone was in the car, let alone shot, when it was riddled with bullets on River Street shortly after midnight noon Saturday, police said.
Medical gloves littered the street in the vicinity of the shooting on West Sunset Avenue Friday morning . (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
One of two people shot as they sat in a pickup truck on Red Bank’s West Side Thursday night was the brother of a man gunned down in the borough under similar circumstances seven months ago, redbankgreen has learned.
Leon Veney, 29, of Red Bank, was shot twice as he sat behind the wheel of a Ford pickup truck pulled over on West Sunset Avenue at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, police Chief Darren McConnell confirmed Friday night. Also shot was Angelique Morris, 23, of Tinton Falls, who was hit once as she sat in the truck’s passenger seat, McConnell said.
Veney is the brother of Perry Veney, 28, who was shot at least six times as he sat behind the wheel of a car parked just a few blocks east, on South Pearl Willow Street, on April 9, McConnell said.
The shooting occurred near the telephone pole at center above, according to a neighbor. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A man and a woman shot on Red Bank’s West Side Thursday night were in critical condition early Friday morning, police Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
Authorities are not yet releasing the identities of the victims, who were found shot inside a parked vehicle on West Sunset Avenue between Shrewsbury and Leighton Avenues at around 8:30 p.m., McConnell said.
A former borough resident was in critical condition after being shot repeatedly as he sat in a parked car in Red Bank Wednesday evening, police said.
Police are looking for a lone gunman who apparently approached the victim and shot him “numerous” times as he sat at the wheel of the car on Willow Street at about 6:45 p.m., said Chief Darren McConnell.
A one-man, 24-hour crime spree that included a holdup of a Red Bank gas station and a shooting in Asbury Park got a Monmouth County man indicted on federal charges Thursday, authorities said.
Quam Wilson, 23, of Neptune Township, started the blitz by shooting an Asbury Park cab driver in the head during a robbery, an indictment handed down by a grand jury in Trenton alleges.
The driver survived.
Missing for years, the backboards and hoops at Montgomery Terrace have returned. (Photos by Sarah Klepner. Click to enlarge)
By SARAH KLEPNER
Basketball hoops said to have been removed after a double shooting in 2007 are back at Red Bank’s Montgomery Terrace apartment complex on the West Side.
The return of the rims was praised by residents, who said the court will give idle youngsters an outlet. Last week, some kids talked about what the change means to them.
“I’m happy they’re back so kids can play here instead of in the parking lot, where people’s cars are,” a boy named Jayron told redbankgreen.
“And it’s good we have a place where we can chill, and hang out, and not argue,” added a girl, Nydasia.
The playground-to-be at Sea Bright’s municipal beach. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)
By WIL FULTON
The Sandy Ground Project Memorial Playground in Sea Bright, built to honor and pay tribute to the victims of the horrific Newtown School shootings, has broken ground, but is still more than a month away from being completed, according to borough Recreation Director Kathy Morris.
The Foundation to Save the Jersey Shore and the New Jersey Firemens Mutual Benevolent Association are spearheading a project called The Sandy Ground Project: Where Angels Play that aims to create 26 memorial playgrounds across the state, dedicated to those who lost their lives in the December school slaughter. Sea Bright is the first town to receive a memorial playground, this one dedicated to Ann Marie Murphy, a special education teacher who lost her life in the shooting.
Investigators on the scene at 97 West Sunset Avenue in Red Bank at 9 a.m. Wednesday, where police confirm a fatal shooting took place overnight.
Officials have not yet released details, but a relative of the victim said he was a 34-year-old man who did not live in town. (Click to enlarge)
Clay-trap shooters gathered at Rumson Country Club’s shooting range for the event, a fundraiser hosted by Ducks Unlimited. (Photos by Peter Lindner. Click to enlarge)
By STEPHANIE SCHROEPFER
A misty fog offered the perfect hunting-in-the-field vibe for nearly 50 enthusiasts who gathered for a trap-shooting event at the Rumson Country Club Saturday.
Shotgun blasts broke the morning calm as 47 participants took turns firing at orange discs lofted into the air at the the Monmouth County chapter of Ducks Unlimited‘s third annual clay shoot, a fundraiser for the conservation and maintenance of North American wetlands.
A 54-year-old Red Bank man faces aggravated assault and weapons charges after an acquaintance alleged he’d fired a gun at him at a River Street residence late Thursday night, police said.
Here’s the full statement from Captain Darren McConnell, the police department spokesman:
At 11:20 pm Thursday night, October 28, the Red Bank Police Department responded to a River Street residence for a report of a subject armed with a handgun who had shot at another individual.