NJ: Third suspect in schoolyard killings arrested
Third suspect in schoolyard killings arrested
Another suspect pleads not guilty to execution-style murders
Image: Jose Carranza
Mike Derer / AP
Jose Carranza, suspected of killing 3 students, appears in court Friday.
Updated: 48 minutes ago
NEWARK, N.J. - A third person was arrested Friday in connection with the execution-style killings of three college students and the wounding of another, NBC News reported.
The suspect was the second juvenile arrested in the case, NBC said. Further details weren't immediately available.
Also Friday, a 28-year-old suspect pleaded not guilty to the killings, a crime that has outraged a city fed up with chronic violence.
Speaking through a Spanish interpreter, Jose Carranza said he understood the charges against him. It was his first court appearance since he surrendered Thursday to Mayor Cory A. Booker.
Carranza was being held on $1 million bail. His lawyer, Felix Lopez Montalvo, declined to comment after the 11-minute hearing.
A second suspect, a 15-year-old boy, pleaded not guilty Thursday and remains in custody, prosecutor Thomas McTigue said Friday. Authorities are seeking to have the boy tried as an adult. His name was not released because of his age.
Both have been charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and related charges.
'Stop the Killings'
The shootings ratcheted up anger in New Jersey’s largest city, where overall crime has declined but where killings continued at last year’s pace with 60 homicides so far this year. The killings have prompted billboards in the downtown area that scream, “HELP WANTED: Stop the Killings in Newark Now!â€