FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — A mass shooting at a house party in Fairfield Township, New Jersey, Saturday night left at least two people dead, multiple people injured and a community in mourning.
At least a hundred people were in attendance at the party. New Jersey State Police were called to the scene around midnight.
Bridgeton, New Jersey resident John Fuqua said the event was a birthday party.
"This was a party celebrating life," he said. "There were people at that party last night from the ages of 15 to 80 years old. It was a celebration of community and family. We got a few bad apples that come out and try to disrupt peace."
Fuqua said he was not at the party, but he had family members that were there.
"I got a million calls, one coming from my nephew, who was able to escape," he said. "Scrapes and cuts on his hands, and he's stepping over a dead body. Comes to find out that dead body is a body of a young man that he grew up with."
Police said at least 12 other people were injured.
"Let there be no mistake: This despicable and cowardly act of gun violence only steels our commitment to ensuring New Jersey leads the nation in passing and enforcing strong and commonsense gun safety laws," said Gov. Phil Murphy in a statement, while Fairfield Township Mayor Benjamin Byrd, Sr. called the incident "an ambush-style shooting."
Fuqua runs an organization called Life Worth Living that works to prevent violent events like this, and offers help for people in the aftermath. That's what plan on doing during their basketball tournament that starts this week.
"Not only are we gonna play, we're gonna talk about what happened here today, so we can prevent this from happening again," he declared. "At the end of the day, it's time for our community to rally. We can't let this become socially acceptable."
This is a developing story. Stay with KYW Newsradio for updates.