Newark police arrest man suspected of shooting 2 officers, prosecutor says

By Brynn Gingras, Jason Hanna and Amir Vera, CNN

A man suspected of wounding two police officers in a shooting in Newark, New Jersey, was arrested and charged Wednesday.

Kendall Howard, 30, is accused of shooting two Newark police officers as they tried to question him near an apartment building in the city Tuesday afternoon, authorities had said.

The Newark Police Department Emergency Response Team arrested Howard around 11:10 a.m. after a more than seven-hour search, said Essex County Prosecutor Theodore Stephens during a news conference Wednesday. He was arrested in the apartment building where the shooting took place, Stephens said.

The more than seven hours included both a search of the building as well as an evacuation of the building’s residents. The building has more than 80 units, Stephens said.

Howard has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, along with additional counts of unlawful possession of a weapon and unlawful possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, Stephens said.

The officers shot are in stable condition and are expected to make a full and complete recovery, Stephens said. One of the officers was shot in the leg and has a small fracture, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said Tuesday. The other officer was shot in his shoulder and the bullet grazed his neck, Baraka said. Both were in stable condition, he said.

One officer is expected to be released Wednesday and the other will remain in the hospital to recover for a couple of days, said Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Fragé, adding that both officers have 1.5 years on the job.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy visited the two officers Wednesday.

“I just visited the two police officers who were shot during yesterday’s attack in Newark,” Murphy tweeted. “Both of them are expected to make full recoveries. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.”

What officials say led to the shooting

Howard had been wanted in connection with an October 28 shooting in Newark, Baraka said. Officers first approached him Tuesday after someone identified him from a flier and called police to say he was in a nearby building.

Police encountered him near the parking lot, the mayor said.

“They gave him instructions; there was a brief altercation; the gentleman pulled a gun out, shot two police officers at close range. Gunshot was returned — fire was returned. The gentleman retreated into the building,” Baraka said.

The shooting came amid an uptick in violence against law enforcement in the US.

There were 252 officers shot, including 50 fatally, from the beginning of this year through September 30, according to the Fraternal Order of Police, an organization representing US law enforcement officers.

That’s a 5% increase over the same period in 2021 and a 6% increase over the same period in 2020, according to the organization.

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CNN’s Amir Vera, John Miller and Rob Frehse contributed to this report.