NEWARK, N.J. (1010 WINS) — A 14-year-old suspect is charged with murder after a police officer was killed and another was hospitalized during a shootout in Newark on Friday night, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
The shooting happened at about 6:30 p.m. in the area of Broadway and Carteret Street, a commercial strip between a McDonald’s and White Castle.
Officials said that the officers were part of a Newark police intelligence team working with the FBI that had gone to capture a suspect in an illegal weapons investigation. Shots were exchanged in the interaction almost immediately.
“Five-year veteran, officer Joseph Azcona, was shot before he even had the opportunity to leave his police car,” Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stevens II said at a press conference Saturday. “At 2:34 this morning, he was pronounced at University Hospital here in Newark.”
Azcona, 26, has been a detective for the last two years, Newark Public Safety Director Emanuel Miranda said. He leaves behind his parents and five siblings.
A second officer was also shot and transported to an area hospital in critical condition on Friday night, but Stevens said that his injuries are not expected to be life threatening and he is recovering in the hospital.
The 14-year-old suspected shooter is also recovering in the hospital from non-life-threatening injuries after the exchange of gunfire.
He has been charged with “numerous crimes, including murder, attempted murder and possession of illegal weapons,” Stevens said. Other suspects are still being questioned by investigators.
“One gun was recovered from the suspects,” Stevens said. “Several individuals are in custody as a result of that interaction, and they’re being interviewed by police and by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.”
Sebastian, who lives nearby, said that he heard the gunfire and when he went out to investigate, he saw crowds of police officers on the scene.
“I heard … more than 10 gunshots, I want to say. And I was just in my bedroom just talking to my friend, and I heard it,” he told 1010 WINS. “And it was really close, and we don’t really get that much action around this area or anything. Last time I heard gunshots was like summer of 2020.”
The investigation is ongoing.