Mourners Lay Murdered NJ Teens to Rest

Saturday was a day of mourning for the city of Newark, NJ, with three funerals being held for college-age friends who were lined up against a wall and shot in the head last Monday. Dashon Harvey, 20, Terrance Aeriel, 18, and Iofemi Hightower, 20, were killed on the playground of an elementary school during what appears to be a robbery attempt. According to investigators, the three were told to kneel in front of a wall, and then they were shot in the head execution-style.

A fourth victim, Aeriel’s sister Nathasha, was also shot in the head near a set of bleachers, but she survived and was able to help investigators by identifying a suspect. Three people, two of whom are juveniles, have been arrested in connection with the killings, and police have issued a warrant for a fourth person.

Mourners at Saturday’s funerals vowed to work toward ending the grip of deadly violence that has descended upon Newark in recent years. The murders last Monday, along with a separate killing later that day, brought the city’s murder total to 60 for the year so far. Newark’s murder rate has increased 50% in the last decade, with a total of 106 killings taking place last year.

Mayor Cory A. Booker spoke at the Metropolitan Baptist Church during the funeral service for Dashon Harvey. Mourners interrupted him with applause when he said, "We need to raise our children," urging residents to do their part to help fight the shocking rise in violence in Newark.

All three of the slain youths were model citizens with high aspirations and big plans. Hightower was working at two jobs this summer and was enrolling at Delaware State University, where the other three victims were already students. Dozens of Delaware State students attended the funerals.

Harvey, a social work major, was drum major of his high school marching band and had hoped to be a fashion model. Aeriesl, known as T.J., had been ordained as a minister at the young age of 13. "As I grew up with him, he never changed," said his friend Victoria Irving. "He stayed the same. He always had God on his mind."

Rev. David Jefferson, Sr., officiated at the funeral for Harvey. "If ‘Shawny’ were here today he’d say, ‘Celebrate!’" Jefferson told the assembled crowd. "He was a drum major, and he is just playing somewhere else now."