New York Times: Youth to Be Tried as Adult in Newark Triple Murder
A 17-year-old will be tried as an adult for what prosecutors said was his “active role” in the killings of three young people in a Newark schoolyard last summer, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
The suspect, Alexander Alfaro, is one of six people arrested in the Aug. 4 murders, which the authorities have said might have started as a robbery attempt. Prosecutors also have acknowledged that the murders had gang undertones.
The three victims, Iofemi Hightower, 20; Terrance Aeriel, 18; and Dashon Harvey, 20, were shot to death at close range. Natasha Aeriel, Mr. Aeriel’s sister, survived the attack and is under the state’s protection as a witness, according to a spokesman for the Essex County prosecutor, Paula T. Dow.
The Daily Newarker 