NJ cops: Man denied access to party near Seton Hall leaves, returns with gun; 5 shot

5 shot at party near Seton Hall in NJ, 1 critical

EAST ORANGE, N.J. — New Jersey police say a man who was denied access to a private party at an apartment near Seton Hall University left and returned with a handgun, shooting five people.

East Orange Police Sgt. Andrew Di Elmo says a 19-year-old female student from Seton Hall University is hospitalized in critical condition after the shooting just after midnight Saturday. The other four were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, but one has since been released, according to Di Elmo.

Di Elmo says the victims did not know the shooter, who fled from the apartment on foot. Police are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspect’s capture.

Police say in addition to the student in critical condition, two of the other victims are both 19-year-old female students at Seton Hall, and one is a 25-year-old male student at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The fifth victim is a 20-year-old man from New York City who is not a student.

Police are not releasing the victim’s names because the shooter remains at-large, Di Elmo said. The Star-Ledger of Newark reported that authorities are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to any arrests and convictions in the shooting.

A man who said he had stopped by the party told the newspaper that he was in the kitchen and heard people shouting in the living room when a shot rang out. The man declined to give his full name to the newspaper because he feared for his safety.

More shots were fired as the panicked crowd stampeded toward the back of the house to try to escape, the man said. He told the newspaper he went back into the house as police arrived and saw one of the victims lying on the floor.

The apartment is located at 564 South Clinton Street in East Orange, less than a mile from the university.

Seton Hall, a private Catholic university in nearby South Orange, about 15 miles west of New York City, enrolls about 10,000 students.