EHC Council Speaks To Residents About Shootings

EGG HARBOR CITY — City officials called on neighboring police for help this week after a violent weekend that included three incidents of gunfire and an arson investigation.

City Council conducted an emergency, closed-door meeting Monday to discuss the violence that has left many residents on edge. It included a shooting Thursday in an alley at the Wawa on White Horse Pike that injured one person, a second report of gunfire that struck a house and a car about noon Saturday on Washington Avenue, and another report of gunfire outside a home on Cincinnati Avenue on Sunday.

Mayor Lisa Jiampetti said the city has asked for policing assistance from the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office and police patrols from Galloway and Mullica townships. The city plans to hire an administrative assistant this year to help city police spend more time on the road. Officers will resume foot patrols on Main Street, she said.

The city plans to dedicate money in next year’s budget to hire more officers, in particular a detective so the department can reinstate its detective unit, the mayor said.

The Sheriff’s Office will provide officers to accompany Egg Harbor City officers on patrols starting Thursday, she said. And Galloway Township has offered the services of its detective bureau and patrol division.

City residents also volunteered to start a neighborhood watch. The mayor said she talked to the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office about a Coalition for Safe Communities Walk.

With school resuming today, residents waited for more than an hour while council met behind closed doors with police. Residents said they wanted to press council on how the city planned to keep children safe.

“We have been kept in the dark about a lot of violence in the town,” resident Nick Rifice, 36, said. “We have high school starting tomorrow. We have kids walking to school. One of the shootings was a block from the elementary school.”

Police have not returned multiple messages seeking more details about the shootings.

Jiampetti said the department is understaffed.

“One officer called out over the weekend. Some officers worked 20 hours without a break,” she said.

She said the police need approval from the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office to release certain information to the public.

“They’re trying as hard as they can to do the best job they can,” she said. “I am confident our Police Department will solve the cases.”

Mike Manger, 35, was at his Cincinnati Avenue home with his wife and two children Sunday night when he heard about seven gunshots outside, he said.

Just after 11:30 p.m., Manger said he called the police, ran outside to make sure no one was hurt, and found seven shell casings on the street by his home.

“We heard the shots, we heard the car, but we didn’t see anything,” he said.

 Manger said police were at the residence for about an hour and the road was closed briefly. He and his family have lived in the city since 2002.

“It’s typically a quiet neighborhood. We read about it in other parts of town, but our section is pretty quiet,” he said. “This is the first time we’ve heard shots that close.”

Manger said he didn’t see anything or anyone hit.

Carol Kienzle, 71, was sitting in her living room in her home in the 100 block of Washington Avenue on Saturday afternoon when she heard about a dozen shots fired just before 1 p.m.

At the home across the street, there are about nine bullet holes visible on the house’s siding.

“All of a sudden I heard this ‘bang, bang, bang, bang,’ and I thought, ‘Oh, that was not fireworks,’” she said. “I was scared for myself when I was inside. I called my husband and said, ‘Get home.’”

In front of the same home, a vehicle went up in flames Sunday night just before midnight, she said, right after residents reported hearing shots in front of a home about a mile away on Cincinnati Avenue.

Other residents said they’ve been hearing bangs or loud noises in the area, and were unsure what had been going on.

 Kienzle said she’s lived in the city for her entire life and has resided in her Washington Avenue home for eight years, but she doesn’t recall anything like this.

“It’s just a shame, it really is,” Kienzle said. “We have all kinds of people living on this street, and we’ve all kind of gotten together. We stand and talk about it.”

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/residents-demand-answers-to-violence-at-egg-harbor-city-meeting/article_fcbe5a6a-6e56-11e6-a4f4-8b56eba180a1.html

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