Man Charged With Murder In Fatal Stabbings Of Woman, 2 Kids In Newark

NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A man has been charged with murder in connection with a stabbing rampage that left two children and a woman dead in Newark this past weekend.

As CBS2's Meg Baker reported, authorities believe the attack may have been retaliation.

Jeremy Arrington, 26, also faces three counts of attempted murder and other charges stemming from Saturday's attack, which left three other people seriously wounded, Essex County prosecutors said.

His bail was set Monday at $5 million.

A makeshift memorial of balloons and stuffed animals grew all day on Hedden Terrace in Newark where 8-year-old Aerial Little Whitehurst, her 11-year-old brother Al-Jahon, and 23-year-old college student Syasia McBurroughs were viciously stabbed to death.

The children's mother and her 13-year-old twins were also hurt in the attack. They remain hospitalized in critical, but stable condition, CBS2's Meg Baker reported.

Neighbors said everybody feels the loss.

"Our block is quiet, I know everybody feels the heartache and pain," said neighbor Sedrick Chambers, who used to see the kids on his walk to the bus stop. "I won't be seeing them no more. It's sad. We used to have cookouts there and you'd see kids out there playing, now that's not going to happen no more."

Arrington was taken into custody late Sunday. Dozens of SWAT team members swarmed a home on Pomona Avenue and Aldine Street after learning he was barricaded inside.

"He was in the second floor, he threw a bat or a pipe out the window, we heard 'Don't shoot! Don't shoot!," Jamal Littles, who lives across the street, said. "I'm glad they got him off the streets."

Within a couple of hours, police apprehended Arrington without incident. City officials said Arrington was wanted for a prior crime last month and was initially labeled a "person of interest" in the stabbings.

"Jeremy Arrington and the family involved had known each other for many years. Mr. Arrington had recently been charged in an indictment with an aggravated assault and a sexual assault," said Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray.

Prosecutors alleged that the motive for the brutal stabbings might have been retaliation after someone posted Arrington's warrant on social media. That allegedly sparked him to show up and commit the brutal crime on Saturday, prosecutors said.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka called the attack one of the most tragic and savage situations he has seen in a very long time.

"This is very senseless; awful; horrible to this community," Baraka said. "I don't want people to take away from this that this is a normal occurrence."

On Sunday night, local leaders held a vigil near the crime scene at Zion Hill Baptist Church.

"None of the family members were able to make it here today. They were involved in the hospital and the prosecutor's office," Newark City Councilman John Sharpe James said at the vigil. "But this is a wake-up call – not just to the South Ward, but to the whole entire community."

The dead children's mother and two 13-year-old twins remained hospitalized in critical, but stable, condition late Monday.

Community members said they were sickened by the act, especially because of the young ages of the victims. They added that their hearts go out to the victims.