The Review

Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Nina Buckalew Many of the recent off-campus home invasions have involved firearms.

City police forces are working to combat a recent increase in crimes within Newark which have targeted students. In several of the incidents, suspects have been armed, highlighting a growing threat of gun violence.

On Oct. 5, three unidentified suspects held up nine students at gunpoint in the Main Street Court apartment complex during a party.

A similar incident occurred Oct. 8 in College Park on Madison Drive, when three unidentified suspects robbed three 19-year-old students with a shotgun during a home invasion.

The next day, a 17-year-old male from Brookside Park pulled out a handgun on the corner of Haines Street and East Main Street during a verbal altercation with university students.

While city crime is reportedly down for the year, Lt. Brian Henry of the Newark Police Department said there has been a spike in reported crimes in the past five to six weeks.

Henry said there is no way to tell what sparked the increase but it may be because the university is back in session.

"When students return here, there is definitely a larger victim base," he said. "Although crime tends to be year-round, it is also cyclical, occurring in bunches. Right now, we are in an upswing of cycles of crime."

Henry said there is no way of knowing where people are acquiring illegal weapons. However, he said having stricter gun-control laws in place would not make a difference.

"Laws typically aren't the problem," Henry said. "The people who obey gun laws aren't the ones using weapons illegally. The law isn't always the answer, so to say that strengthening the law would affect people carrying guns probably wouldn't do any justice."

If a suspect is armed when committing a robbery, the crime is automatically classified as a robbery in the first degree, a level B felony, which is punishable with up to 25 years in prison. The minimum jail time for this type of offense would be three years in prison, he said.

Henry said armed robbers are almost always charged with carrying a concealed deadly weapon without a permit.

Cpl. Thomas Maiura of the Newark Police Department said most firearms used during robberies are purchased on the black market. Most transactions occur in inner cities, but these weapons are available widely throughout the state.

Continued...

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