A 30-year-old man was shot and killed in a mall parking lot after holiday shopping with his wife. According to ABC, Dustin Friedland from Hoboken, N.J. and his wife had just left the Short Hills Mall around 9 p.m. on Dec. 15 and were getting into their car when he was gunned down.
Police said the man had opened the car door for his wife and was about to climb into the driver's side when two unidentified men approached him in an attempt to hijack the car and shot him in the head. The suspects then took off in the couple's silver 2012 Range Rover. The wife, who has not been identified, was not injured in the shooting.
The Range Rover was discovered by police 11 miles away from the mall behind an abandoned house on Renner Avenue, in Newark, N.J. Police said there was damage to the driver's side and the passenger's side and the rear window of the car was shattered.
Witnesses at the mall told officers they heard three gun shots on the second level of the mall parking garage. Friedland was rushed to Morristown Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, ABC reports. The wife was also taken to the hospital but was uninjured.
Police are still investigating the crime and have not made any arrests yet. The two male suspects are only described as African-American. The Essex County Sheriff's Crime Stoppers are offering a $10,000 reward for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the suspects. Anyone with information is urged to call the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force tips line at 1-877-847-7432.
On Nov. 4 another shooting took place at a New Jersey mall. Police responded to calls of a gunman shooting in an open area at the Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus, N.J. None of the shoppers or mall employees were injured and the shooter, identified as 20-year-old Richard Shoop, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.