Camden, N.J., sets homicide record
- Investigators seek masked man in latest case
- Officials attribute surge in killings in part to massive layoffs at police department
- This year's homicides include a toddler and a 6-year-old killed over the summer
CAMDEN, N.J. — The city of Camden set a grim record Friday, with its 59th homicide of the year.
The latest victim was shot dead in the city's Fairview section around 11:30 a.m, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.
Additional details were not immediately available, but radio dispatches said police were seeking a masked man.
The previous high mark for homicides was 58, set in 1995.
The city tied the record on Nov. 9 when a Cherry Hill man died from injuries suffered in a beating seven days earlier. Gregory Holder, 45, had been attacked by two men during an apparent drug dispute, authorities said.
His case remains under investigation. No arrests have been made.
Violence aside, the homicide total could still increase, as the victim of an Oct. 21 shooting remains on life support at Cooper University Hospital.
Jimmy Cortes Jr., 20, of Barrington was shot multiple times during a pre-dawn confrontation between two groups of men.
The city's homicide toll, which has varied from year to year, hit 52 last year. That was up from 37 in 2010 and 34 in 2009.
Law enforcement officials have attributed the surge in violence in part to massive layoffs that nearly halved staffing levels at the city's police department in early 2011.
Camden currently has about 270 police officers. There were about 335 officers in 1995, according to Courier-Post records.
This year's homicides include the horrific deaths of two city children over the summer — a toddler decapitated by his mother and a 6-year-old boy whose throat was slit by an intruder.
In addition, a masked gunman last month killed two young people — 18-year-old Jewel Manire and 20-year-old Khalil Gibson — as they sat in a car in the Fairview section. Three people were also wounded in that attack, which remains unsolved.