3 killed, including 2 children, in stabbing in New Jersey

Three people, including two young children, are dead and three others injured after a mass stabbing at a home in Newark, New Jersey, officials say.

The three dead were an 11-year-old boy, an 8-year-old girl and a 23-year-old woman, who were stabbed in a home on the 100 block of Hedden Terrace around 3:55 pm on Saturday.

Three others, including a boy and a girl, both 13, along with a 29-year-old woman, were also injured and hospitalized in stable condition at a local hospital.

“All six of the individuals appeared to have been stabbed with a knife or knives and we are not ruling out other weapons at this time,” said acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray.

Many of the victims were family members, but officials have not yet clarified the relationships between them.

The suspect was identified as Jeremy Arrington, 26, who had already been wanted on charges of sexual assault and aggravated assault for an unrelated incident on October 9, Murray said.

Arrington is still at large and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has called on anyone, who has information about the suspect, to immediately come forward.

“We have to get him immediately before he hurts someone else,” the mayor said. “As long as he’s on the street, nobody is safe.”

“This is probably one of the most tragic and savage situations that I’ve seen in a very, very long time here,” Baraka said. “The incident this evening was a horrific and horrible scene.”

A crowd gathered at the scene Saturday night, calling for an end to the violence against young people.

“All I know is there’s babies involved. There’s women involved. There’s no words for this, just like the two-year-old yesterday in Orange, there are no words when it comes to kids,” said Donna Jackson, a Newark community activist, who was at the scene.

“You are not going to shoot our children. You are not going to stab our kids. This is it. We have lost too many on these streets,” she added.

The stabbing attack came after a quadruple shooting incident on Thursday left a toddler dead in Orange, California.