Just recently, law enforcement officials in Salem County announced a 58% decline in violent crime last year.
The county did not record a single homicide in 2009, but on Thursday, a man was found shot to death in his home in Salem City and a man was stabbed to death in a vacant lot in Penns Grove less than twelve hours later.
Just recently, law enforcement officials in Salem County announced a 58% decline in violent crime last year in 2009 and not one homicide.
"The fact that we have two different homicides in two different municipalities on the same date has never happened before in Salem County and not only is it unusual, it's unprecedented," Salem County Prosecutor John Lenahan said.
In Salem City, Angel Montes was shot to death inside his 8th Street home around 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Then, 12 hours later in Penns Grove. 39-year-old Carikin Hudson was found stabbed to death at Cumberland and East Main, not far from his home.
Lenahan believes the cases on the same day are a dark and stunning coincidence.
"I feel very confident that they're completely unrelated," Lenahan said.
Salem County residents Action News spoke with are concerned with the uptick in crime following a quiet year.
"I had a family member lost his life to the streets, so I know what the other families are going through. It's getting worse," Salem resident Jimmy Turner said.
Law enforcement says the crimes could be drug related and they are looking at people of interest, but no arrests have been made. The prosecutor says people in the neighborhood are reluctant to talk to police which makes it harder to solve the crime.
