NEWARK — The United Youth Council joined forces with several different anti-violence organizations today and held a rally outside a Central Ward oil change station where four men were shot Saturday while waiting for their cars to be serviced. Salaam Ismail, national director of the organization, said the United Youth Council plans to reach out to the Department of...
The Zap Lube on the corner of Court Street and Washington Street where four men were shot Saturday.
NEWARK — The United Youth Council joined forces with several different anti-violence organizations today and held a rally outside a Central Ward oil change station where four men were shot Saturday while waiting for their cars to be serviced.
Salaam Ismail, national director of the organization, said the United Youth Council plans to reach out to the Department of Justice to arrange a meeting between representatives of the Newark anti-violence community and Mayor Cory Booker.
"Violence has become epidemic in Newark," Ismail said. "People are afraid to walk out their doors even in the daylight hours."
The rally was in response to a Saturday afternoon shooting in which four men were struck by gunfire and sustained non-life threatening injuries at the Zap Lube Station at Court Street and Washington Avenue. Two men were shot in the leg, one was shot in the armpit and another sustained a graze wound to the head, according to police.
Ismail said city activists were also concerned with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office’s handling of the shooting deaths of Alduha Davis, 38, of Elizabeth, and Shareef Burton, 32, of Hillside. Both men were shot and killed outside of a restaurant in late April, and Ismail claims key witnesses have not been contacted by detectives working on the case.