On June 15, a Pirate Alert went out to the Seton Hall University community notifying people of police activity in the downtown area of the Village of South Orange. Recipients of the message were urged to avoid the area.
The next morning, the South Orange Police Department released a press release regarding the incident. As of this time, no victims have been identified and no arrests have been made.
According to the press release, “At 11:12 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, the South Orange Police Department responded to the vicinity of Sloan Street after officers on foot details in the area heard what appeared to be ‘gunshots.’”
The press release went on to say that the police’s preliminary investigation indicated that “an altercation between youth led to the gunshots.” At this time, the gunshots were also believed to have been fired upwards into the air and presently, detectives are “currently reviewing video surveillance in the area to gather more details.”
Although the “Pride Under the Stars” dance party was being held at the time of the incident, authorities do not believe that the shots fired were related to the event.
“According to officer accounts, there were hundreds of youth in the downtown area at the time of the incident in addition to the party-goers,” the press release stated. “There was one minor injury to an individual who was leaving from the scene and was treated by the South Orange Rescue Squad and released.”
Sergio Oliva, the associate director of Public Safety, said that the school sent out a Pirate Alert “because we [the school] have residents that live on campus and in the surrounding in the summer.”
Rhania Kamel can be reached at rhania.kamel@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @RhaniaKamel.
