Crime & Safety

Shooting Death Of Elizabeth Man Investigated By Homicide Task Force

Press release provided by the Union County Prosecutor's Office. 

The Monday afternoon shooting death of an Elizabeth man is under investigation, acting UnionCounty Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Tuesday. 

The victim has been identified as 18-year-old Jonathan Landaverde. 

It was shortly before 5 p.m. Monday when first responders rushed to the 600 block of South Park Street in Elizabeth, a residential neighborhood, to find Landaverde suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. 

He was transported to University Hospital in Newark, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 5 p.m. An intensive joint investigation involving the Union County Homicide Task Force and the Elizabeth Police Department is continuing, and as of late Tuesday no arrest had been made nor any charges filed in connection with Mr. Landaverde’s death. 

A possible motive remains under investigation while evidence is examined and interviews are conducted. Additional information about this case will be released as it becomes available.

Landaverde’s death marked Union County’s fourth homicide of 2014, and its first in nearly three months. All four homicides occurred in Elizabeth, and to date charges have been filed in connection with three of them. 

Anyone with information about this matter is being urged to contact Union County Prosecutor’s Office Detective Sofia Santos or Detective Johnny Ho at 908-325-3324. 

A reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment in connection with the death of Mr. Landaverde is being offered by the Union County Crime Stoppers; tips can be given anonymously by phone at 
908-654-TIPS (8477), via text message by texting “UCTIP” and a message to 274637 (CRIMES), or online at www.uctip.org.


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