Nearly a week after New Jersey lawyer Dustin Friedland, 30, was gunned down in a carjacking while returning to his vehicle in an upscale shopping mall parking lot, police arrested four men on charges of murder, reports the Newark Star-Ledger. All were jailed on $2 million bail each. (The Star-Ledger reported later that the big break for police came when they discovered that a vehicle owned by one of the suspect’s mothers was caught on a surveillance video circling the mall.)
“The sheer senselessness of this case outraged people,” said Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray, crediting callers with providing authorities with tips. Murray would not describe the relationship of the four and said the weapon involved has not been recovered. She said the crime was motivated by the vehicle. U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said the arrests were the result of “extraordinary police work” after a state-federal task force to battle carjackings in Essex County, which has the highest number of such crimes in New Jersey. “We have an epidemic of carjackings here,” he said. “You shouldn’t have to worry that wherever you go, someone will put a gun to your head and take your car.”