N.J. students 'executed'

by Barry ORegan | August 7, 2007 at 04:59 am

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Our Society looks like it is certainly going to "Hell in a Handbasket" when high schools are not safe for our children.

In a world that glorifies gun violence in music videos, young lives were snuffed out in a schoolyard for a few dollars, young lives that one day could have found a cure for Cancer, World hunger, take your pick. Because these dead youth certainly can't.

NEWARK, N.J. -- In a city where gun violence has become an all too common part of daily life, these shootings were enough to chill even the most hardened residents: Four young friends shot execution-style in a schoolyard just days before they were to head to college.

Terrance Aeriel, 18, Iofemi Hightower, 20, and Dashon Harvey, 20, were killed after being forced to kneel against a wall and then shot in the head at close range Saturday night, police said. Aerial's sister Natasha, 19, was found near some bleachers about 10 metres away, a gunshot wound to the head but still alive. She was listed in fair condition at Newark's University Hospital.

The four Newark residents were to attend Delaware State University this fall. No arrests had been made by yesterday and authorities had not identified suspects.

MURDERS UP 50%

The shootings ratcheted up anger in New Jersey's largest city, where the murder rate has risen 50% since 1998. The high number of killings have prompted billboards in the downtown area that scream, "HELP WANTED: Stop the Killings in Newark Now!"