Suspect in wounding of two Newark police officers has been apprehended
One officer was shot in the leg. The other officer’s neck was grazed by a bullet that lodged in his shoulder, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said.
NEWARK, N.J. — A man charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting two Newark police officers was taken into custody Wednesday, after hiding out overnight in the apartment building he had fled to a day earlier.
Police arrested Kendall Howard shortly after 11 a.m. Wednesday and charged him with two counts of attempted murder and weapons offenses. Television news video shot from overhead showed Howard being carried out by four police emergency response personnel, with his hands handcuffed behind his back.
Police had arrived at the apartment building early Tuesday afternoon after a citizen called and said he recognized a man shown on a flier who had been involved in an Oct. 28 shooting, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said Tuesday.
When they arrived, they encountered the 30-year-old Howard in the parking lot as they were exiting the building, police said. After an altercation, Howard allegedly pulled a gun and fired at both officers, injuring one in the leg and the other in the shoulder.
Both officers are expected to make full recoveries, Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens II said at a news conference Wednesday. One was expected to be released from the hospital Wednesday and the other within the next few days, he said. Both have been on the job for 18 months.
Stephens didn’t provide details on how Howard was able to evade capture overnight in the six-story apartment building, which is near Newark’s Weequahic Park and a little over a mile from Newark Liberty International Airport. The building contains more than 80 apartments, Stephens said, and it took a long time to evacuate residents. He didn’t say where in the building Howard was found.
Stephens and Baraka praised the efforts of citizens who aided the injured officers, particularly a woman who got out of her car and tried to assist one of the officers, who was bleeding.
A video taken by a bystander and posted online appeared to show someone helping an officer off the ground and soon after, others in uniform helping the limping officer into a car.