EAST ORANGE, N.J. – A man who was denied access to a private party at an apartment near Seton Hall University left and returned with a handgun, then fatally shot a student and wounded four people, sending screaming partygoers rushing out the door and climbing out windows.
Seton Hall student Jessica Moore, 19, died from her injuries Saturday afternoon, said Katherine Carter, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. Moore had been hospitalized in critical condition after the shooting just before 12:20 a.m.
The other four victims were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, and one has been released, said East Orange Police Sgt. Andrew Di Elmo.
The victims did not know the shooter, who fled from the apartment on foot, Di Elmo said. Police offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspect’s capture.
Police said that two of the wounded are both 19-year-old women who go to Seton Hall, and one is a 25-year-old man who attends the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The fifth victim is a 20-year-old man from New York City who is not a student.