NEWARK, Dec. 15 — The flickering votives, the tearful relatives and the angry activists scolding City Hall for the death of a young mother. It was a familiar tableau as a small crowd huddled to mark the killing of Taheerah Sweat, who the police say was shot twice by a man who had taken her out on the town but then left her to die on the chilly pavement after they had a fight.
Ms. Sweat’s killing early on Sunday was the 101st homicide in Newark this year, the authorities said, one body short of a 1995 record, when Newark was buckling under a wave of crack-fueled mayhem.
With three times the number of homicides per capita as New York, Newark remains one of the most violent cities in the country. New York’s homicide rate has edged up this year, but it is nowhere near that of the late 1980s. Cities across the country, including Philadelphia, Phoenix, Orlando, San Antonio and Boston, have seen increased killings, part of a two-year rise in major crimes after a decadelong drop.
No comments:
Post a Comment