Three heavily armed teenagers were arrested early Sunday in Camden County, New Jersey, in what investigators described as a plot to hijack a car and embark on a killing spree using rifles, handguns, knives, machetes and 2,000 rounds of ammunition.
The arrests were made in Oaklyn, a small blue-collar town southeast of Camden, after a man told the police his car had been surrounded by three youths who appeared, as if from a nightmare, with pistols dangling from their waistbands as he drove along a residential street more than an hour before dawn. They carried rifles, shotguns and other weapons either in their arms or bulging from beneath their clothing, he said.
The driver, identified by The Associated Press Sunday night as Mathew Rich, did not stop. Instead, he drove around the three teenagers and flagged down a police patrol car a few blocks away, the authorities said.
Although the youths' motives were unclear, their arrests evoked grim memories of the April 20, 1999, shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in which two students killed 12 others and a teacher before committing suicide.
The three New Jersey teenagers "planned on not being taken alive," said Police Chief Christopher Ferrari of Oaklyn. Under police questioning, he said, the three had indicated "they had previous problems with students" and that fellow students were among the potential targets of their plot.
At a news conference Sunday night, Vincent Sarubbi, the county prosecutor, identified the eldest of the three youths as Matthew Lovett, 18, a graduate of Collingswood High School outside Oaklyn, and called him the ringleader of a bizarre plot, long in the making.
"They developed a plan several months ago that they were going to kill three people and then go on a random killing spree throughout the town," Sarubbi said. He would not identify the other youths because, he said, they were juveniles, ages 14 and 15.
"Their plan was to kill randomly until they used all 2,000 rounds of ammunition, spent their knives and exhausted all the other weapons they had," Sarubbi said. He said all the weapons found in the possession of the three youths belonged to Lovett's father. The guns, he said, were licensed.
Ferrari said the weapons found on the teenagers included two rifles, a shotgun, two handguns, two swords and several knives.
"We were able to avert a major catastrophe," he said.
Investigators said the three teenagers were arrested before dawn in a tense encounter with the Oaklyn police officer flagged down by Rich, Charles Antrilli.
They said Antrilli encountered the three youths near the site of their aborted carjacking.
Antrilli approached the three in the street, Sarubbi said. Lovett responded by pointing a gun in the officer's direction, Sarubbi said.
Antrilli then pulled his own gun, and ordered all three teenagers to drop their weapons, which they did, Sarubbi said.
The Associated Press quoted Rich as saying that the carjacking attempt had occurred as he was leaving his wife's home to go to work.
"These guys were ready for war," Rich was quoted as saying.
Sarubbi said the three teenagers had decided to carry out their plot Sunday because Lovett's parents were away.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese