4 Arrested in Murder of Jewish Lawyer Dustin Friedland at New Jersey Mall
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Four young men have reportedly been arrested in the senseless carjack killing of Jewish lawyer Dustin Friedland, who was shot in the parking lot of an upscale New Jersey mall in front of his horrified wife last weekend.
Friedland, a beloved husband from Hoboken, had just finished loading holiday gifts into his silver 2012 Range Rover at The Mall at Short Hills on Sunday night when two men ambushed him, shooting him in the head, the Daily News reported.
“We have four in custody,” Katherine Carter, spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office told the paper. The suspects are all young men from the Newark, N.J. area.
Three of the suspects were arrested locally, and Henry was apprehended in an Easton, Pennsylvania, hotel by a task force of FBI agents and U.S. Marshals.
Prosecutors said the four men in custody do not yet have lawyers.
Authorities gave the following account on Saturday: The four suspects arrived at the mall on Sunday in a Suburban vehicle. Two got out and attacked Friedland and stole the Range Rover, while the pair in the Suburban drove off. Friedland’s wife was not injured.
The stolen car was later recovered in Newark. Investigators have yet to identify which of the four suspects they believe shot Friedland.
The investigation was aided by a strong public response to the shooting, leading to many tips called in to a confidential hotline, said Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray.
“The sheer senselessness of this crime outraged people from Millburn to Newark,” she said.
Superior Court Judge Michael Ravin set bail at $2 million for each defendant. They are being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility. They could face life in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.
The mall, located 20 miles west of New York City, has 150 specialty stores and restaurants.
Friedland was mourned by his widow and hundreds of mourners at a service at Beth Am Shalom Temple in Lakewood, N.J. on Wednesday.
“I was lucky enough to be with him in the time we had, and it’s forever,” said Jamie Share Friedland, 27, according to the New York Post.
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