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CNN
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A suspect in a shooting in Newark, New Jersey, that injured two police officers, is in police custody, two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation said Wednesday.
Kendall Howard, 30, is accused of shooting two Newark police officers who tried to question him near an apartment building in the city Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.
Howard was arrested around 11:10 a.m. by the Newark Police Department Emergency Response Team after a more than seven-hour search, Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens said at a news conference Wednesday. He was arrested at the apartment building where the shooting took place, Stephens said.
The building was searched for more than seven hours and the occupants of the building were evacuated. The building has more than 80 units, Stephens said.
Howard is charged with two counts of attempted murder, along with two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, Stephens said.
Stephens said the officers who were shot are stable and expected to make a full and complete recovery. One of the officers was shot in the leg and suffered a minor fracture, Newark Mayor Raz Baraka said Tuesday. The other officer was shot in the shoulder and the bullet entered his neck, Baraka said. He said that the health condition of both is satisfactory.
One officer is expected to be released Wednesday, while the other will remain hospitalized for two days to recover, Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Frage said, adding that both officers have 1.5 years on the job.
Baraka said Howard was wanted in connection with the Oct. 28 shooting in Newark. Officers initially approached him after someone recognized him from a fellow passenger and called police saying he was in a nearby building.
Police confronted him near the parking lot, the mayor said.
“They gave him instructions; There was a little fight; The gentleman pulled out a gun and shot two police officers at close range. Fire was returned – fire was returned. “The gentleman retreated into the building,” Baraka said.
The shooting comes amid an increase in violence against law enforcement in the US.
According to the Fraternal Order of Police, an organization representing US law enforcement officers, 252 officers were shot and killed, including 50 fatally, from the start of this year to September 30.
That’s a 5% increase over the same period in 2021 and a 6% increase over the same period in 2020, according to the organization.
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