Sunday, February 05, 2006
BY JONATHAN SCHUPPE
Star-Ledger
A handgun was used in nine of 10 homicides last year in Newark, far above the national average and chilling proof gun use in the city is escalating.
At the same time, Newark police say nonfatal gun assaults -- including shootings, pistol whippings and threats -- are rising. Cops also describe seeing more shootings done at close range, or with victims who themselves were armed.
"There just aren't as many social taboos about having a gun, and it may even give you a sort of cult hero status if you use one," said State Police Lt. Chris Andreychak, who heads a shooting investigation squad in Newark and Irvington, which is also plagued by gun violence. "But I don't think they fully understand what damage you do when you shoot someone."
Authorities also blame a cycle of fear and retaliation. It is typical, they say, of cities plagued by drug dealing, gangs and a general street culture in which the most ruthless get the most respect.
"What we have is this lifestyle that says it's all right to pick up a gun and shoot someone," said Michael Wagers, director of the Police Institute at Rutgers-Newark, which analyzed the city's 97 homicides last year. Wagers' group put the city's actual homicide-by-gun rate at 89.7 percent -- 10 percent above 2004 and the highest ever in Newark.
The cycle works something like this: When a neighborhood suffers a spike in shootings -- usually among a relatively small group of hardened criminals or ex-cons -- people feel more vulnerable. Many respond to the danger by getting guns, too.
Guns are so prevalent, a common expression on the streets of Newark these days is "better to be caught with a gun than without one." In other words, the consequences of not having a gun in a street fight are far worse than getting arrested for carrying one.
With more young people armed and anxious, even the slightest altercation can erupt in gunfire.
"It's easy to see how this feeds upon itself," said Daniel Webster, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore. "You see the rules of the game start to change, and shootings become somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy. People start shooting each other over funny looks."
Police records are full of shootings prompted by run-of-the-mill disagreements. A sampling:
On Jan. 7, Andre Harmon of Newark argued with his girlfriend during an early morning card game on South 20th Street, police said. The girlfriend got angry, called someone, and a gunman later burst into the house and shot Harmon five times. He survived.
On Dec. 26, 2005, Tyshira Fitzgerald told police she was walking home from a bar on South 20th Street when a carload of men pulled up and someone started shouting at her. She shouted back. One of them shot her in the chest. She lived.
On May 12, 2005, a midafternoon gunbattle erupted on Stuyvesant Avenue after a reputed member of the Bloods shouted something derogatory at a woman associated with the Crips, police said. The woman allegedly called two Crips, Brian Mellette and Ife James, who drove to the scene and got into a shootout with the Blood, Ashadee Alexander. All three of the alleged gunmen were injured but survived and were charged with assault and illegal weapons possession.
Young men say that's life on the streets.
"A lot of people find security in guns," said Daniel Newkirk, 21.
He did.
Growing up in a neighborhood where Bloods and Crips feuded, Newkirk said he witnessed gunbattles outside his apartment building. He feared for his safety walking to and from the corner store. So he bought a 9 mm. off the street, having little difficulty getting around New Jersey's strict gun laws.
"I carried it to even the odds," Newkirk said.
Authorities say Los Angeles-style street gangs like the Bloods and Crips have aggravated the cycle of gun violence by putting more pressure on members to retaliate for things they perceive as signs of disrespect, authorities say.
"With gangs, there's no turning the other cheek," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Agnifilo, who prosecutes gangs and gun offenders for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Newark. "You can't be disrespected. They elevate petty rivalries in their minds to justify going to guns..."
Some say the problem is also fed by a fascination with gun violence in television shows, movies, video games and hip-hop music.
"It's about showing off, it's about wanting to be a tough guy or a thug," Newark Police Director Anthony Ambrose said.
'A PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUE'
Guns always have been part of the urban street life, particularly since illegal drug trafficking grew in the 1980s.
But Newark -- where total crime steadily has decreased for years -- recently has developed a bigger gun problem than most major cities. In 2002, the latest FBI national figures available, Newark had a 81.5 percent homicide-by-gun rate. That put New Jersey's largest city nearly 20 percentage points above the national average.
Webster said there are ways to solve the problem. The key is to treat gun violence as a public health issue.
Just as in the case of an infectious disease, gun violence can recede if enough people change their behavior, Webster said. That means cracking down on illegal gun possession and sending more police into shooting-prone neighborhoods.
"So much depends on the perception of whether you can get away with carrying a gun around," Webster said.
The solution also requires sending outreach workers and social services agencies into neighborhoods to deal with the social ills that lead people to gun violence, Webster said.
Such an effort has succeeded in Chicago, and last year the Police Institute adopted a similar program, Operation CeaseFire, in a two-square-mile area along the Newark-Irvington border.
"We're out there saying it's not normal to pick up a gun and shoot someone when you have a dispute," Wagers said.
The project is still a work in progress: shootings in the area decreased last year, but murders increased.
"Were dealing with a diseased mentality," said James Grimes, a CeaseFire outreach worker who spent 15 years in prison for robbery. "They're in a whole different world, and we don't matter. They know the majority of society is scared of them. So the only way to reach them is to be fearless."
Jonathan Schuppe covers Newark. He may be reached at jschuppe@starledger.com or (973) 392-7960.
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