Several people heard shots shortly before 8 p.m.
NEWARK -- A victim identified only as a male was shot and killed Wednesday night in the city's Lower Vailsburg section, said Thomas Fennelly, a spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
The victim was shot shortly before 8 p.m. on Kenmore Avenue between Vail Street and Sanford Avenue. Additional information about him was not immediately available.
A block away, on Marion Avenue immediately following the shooting, a large contingent of police vehicles that witnesses said included State Police were briefly staged before speeding off.
This is the city's 69th homicide of the year, and comes the day after police and Mayor Ras Baraka held a press conference touting a string of more than a dozen recent gun-related arrests made with the public's help.
During that same press conference, Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose noted that there have been slightly more fatal shootings so far in 2016 compared with the same period last year, but added that shootings overall were down.
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