For 2nd straight year, 2 fatal shootings mar Newark's 24 Hours of Peace effort

The Essex County Prosecutor's Office and the Newark Police Department are investigating two separate shootings that occurred while the 5th annual "24 Hours of Peace" celebration was under way.

NEWARK -- For the second consecutive year, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office and Newark police are investigating two fatal shootings on a night meant to highlight an attempt to curb violence in the city.

As was the case last August, gunshots rattled the city just hours after the annual "24 Hours of Peace" celebration got under way downtown on Friday. 

First, homicide investigators responded to a report of a shooting on Schuyler Avenue at 10:45 p.m., acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray and Newark Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose said.    

Chief Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Thomas Fennelly said his office's Major Crimes Task Force is investigating the fatal shooting that occurred there overnight. 

Newark police officers were dispatched to the 100 block of Schuyler Avenue for a report of a person shot, he said. Arriving officers found Kevin Baker, 19, of Newark, suffering from a gunshot wound, Fennelly said. Baker was rushed to University Hospital in Newark where he was pronounced dead at 12:08 a.m. Saturday, Fennelly said.

Fennelly also confirmed a second fatal shooting on Willoughby Street where another person was wounded shortly before midnight.

Newark officers responded to the 100 block of Willoughby Street on reports of a shooting, Fennelly said. There, officers found a man and a woman with gunshot wounds.

The man, Robert Harrison Jr., 24, of Irvington, was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:07 a.m. Saturday, Fennelly said.  The woman, who is 27, was taken to University Hospital where she has been admitted in critical condition, he said. Authorities are not releasing her identity for security reasons, he said.

Fennelly said that although the two shootings occurred close in time, investigators believe they are unrelated. 

Anyone with information is asked to call the Prosecutor's Tips Line at 877-847-7432.

The "24 Hours of Peace" celebration - in its fifth year - was moved to the city's downtown at Broad and Market streets this year to give it more visibility but started in the city's South Ward to address growing violence there.

These two fatal shootings boost the city's homicide count so far this year to 62, ahead of the count for this time last year.

Last year, Mayor Ras Baraka, who helped found the 24 Hours event, called the two shootings "disheartening."  Those shootings, like the ones this year, appear to be unrelated.