Authorities announced today that four men have been arrested and charged in connection with a carjacking outside an upscale NJ mall last Sunday that left one victim dead.
From the Star Ledger / NJ.com:
Nearly a week after 30-year-old Hoboken lawyer Dustin Friedland was gunned down in a deadly carjacking while returning to his vehicle in an upper level parking deck of the Mall at Short Hills, police this morning arrested four men on charges of murder.The four, were identified as Karif Ford, 31, Basim Henry, 32, Kevin Roberts, 35, all of Newark, and Hanif Thompson, 29, of Irvington. All were being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility on $2 million bail each.Thompson was taken into custody at his home in Irvington. Ford and Roberts were arrested in Newark. Henry was arrested, by an FBI task force, at a hotel in Easton, Pa., said Anthony Ambrose, chief of detectives for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. He said the arrests began around 9 p.m. Friday and concluded at about 3 a.m. today.
The four have been charged with murder, felony murder, carjacking, conspiracy, possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, according to FOX News.
Friedland and his wife, Jamie, had returned to their parked 2012 silver Range Rover after an evening of holiday shopping on December 15th. Friedland had opened the car door for his wife and was said to have been walking behind the vehicle to the other side when he was confronted by several of the alleged carjackers. After reportedly getting into a scuffle with one of them, Friedland was shot once in the head and later died in a Morristown, NJ hospital.
The stolen Range Rover was found the following morning in Newark, NJ. Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray said in a press conference today that the crime is believed to have been motivated by the vehicle, according to the Star Ledger.
The state of NJ has been battling carjacking crimes in Essex County. Earlier this summer, a joint NJ state and federal task force launched an anti-carjacking public awareness campaign, aimed in part at warning would-be carjackers of serious consequences for related offenses.
(Featured image credit: CNN video)
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY