Newark Police: 12-Year-Old Arrested For Semi-Auto Assault Weapon, Latest Linked To Juvenile Crimes
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - A 12-year-old boy is the latest to be charged with possession of a semi-automatic assault weapon in Newark.
Local police say this case is just the latest incident pointing to an alarming number of crimes, allegedly committed by juveniles.
"Since July, we had 26 arrests of juveniles for violent crime, eight for stolen cars," said Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose. "Juveniles are victimizing other juveniles, many non-fatal shooting victims and suspects were under the age of 18.
"At some point, we have to sit down and talk about juvenile justice, because it's not working whatever is happening now," he said.
Within the last week, police in Newark say they recovered 18 handguns leading to the arrest of seven adults and four juveniles.
