Gunman opens fire in NJ car; 2 killed, 3 wounded www.privateofficer.com

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CAMDEN, N.J. Oct 82012 (AP) -- A masked man carrying a gun and a machete entered a parked carand opened fire on five young adults inside, killing the driver and a passengerand wounding the others, then pushed aside the driver's body and drove off withfour of the victims inside, authorities said, in a startling burst of violenceeven for a city consistently ranked as one of the nation's most dangerous.
It was not clear whether the gunman knew anyone in the caror what sparked the shooting late Saturday, Camden Countyprosecutor's spokesman Jason Laughlin said. The gunman eventually fled andremained at large Sunday, authorities said.
The car was parked in an alley when the masked manapproached and got in on the driver's side, Laughlin said. He fired severalshots, killing the 18-year-old driver, Jewel Manire, and Khalil Gibson, 20, of Camden.
The spray of bullets wounded a 20-year-old woman in the face,a 16-year-old in the head and another 16-year-old in the arm, Laughlin said.
After the gunman stopped shooting, he pushed aside Manire'sbody and drove off with all the victims inside except the teenager who was shotin the arm. She had managed to escape and called 911.
The car was driven to a nearby dirt road, where the20-year-old woman also jumped out and ran off. The gunman briefly pursued herbut could not catch her, and he soon ran away.
He was described as Hispanic and about 6 feet tall. He worea black mask over the lower part of his face and yellow latex gloves.
All three wounded victims remained in the hospital Sunday,two in critical condition.
Camden, a city of about80,000 that sits along the Delaware River across from Philadelphia,continually ranks as one of the most dangerous and poorest in the U.S. The twofatalities bring the city's homicide total this year to 50, eight short of therecord reached in 1995.
City officials are trying to replace the police departmentwith a force run by the county, a move that would circumvent union rules inorder to increase the number of officers while keeping costs the same.
Last month, authorities said they were trying to determinewhether a contaminated batch of PCP was going around town after a child wasdecapitated and two other children's throats were slashed by people believed tobe on the illegal drug. A man charged in the attack admitted to police that hehad smoked "wet," a combination of PCP and marijuana.