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<span style="font-weight: bold">Corrections officer kills self and her baby</span>
Tuesday, August 04, 2009 James QueallySTAR-LEDGER STAFF
An Essex County corrections officer shot and critically injured her boyfriend, then held police at bay for nearly two hours until turning the gun on her infant son, fatally wounding the baby before killing herself yesterday afternoon, authorities said.
Kelley R. McKenith, 39, of Newark was pronounced dead at 5:48 p.m. at University Hospital just minutes after her 4-month-old son, Kaire McKenith, was pronounced dead from a single gunshot wound to the chest, said Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
McKenith, who was hired by the Essex County Corrections Office in February 2005 and worked at the county jail in Newark, shot her boyfriend Louis Goosby, 28, three times, striking him at least once in the leg and grazing his ear, Loriquet said. Goosby remained in critical but stable condition last night at the Newark hospital.
Authorities and neighbors believe Goosby is the baby's father.
"This is a tragic day for the city. We've lost a child. We've lost our child," Mayor Cory Booker said during a news conference less than an hour after the shooting, which took place at McKenith's two-story home on Huntington Terrace in the city's South Ward. "This is a senseless act of violence."
Police director Garry McCarthy said police responded to reports of a dispute at the Huntington Terrace home around 3:47 p.m. When officers arrived, Goosby told them he had jumped out of a second-story window to escape an assault by his girlfriend, McCarthy said.
McKenith barricaded herself inside the house with the baby, forcing police to establish a perimeter and set up a mobile command post, McCarthy said.
Over the next hour, a police negotiator made contact several times with McKenith, who agreed to surrender and bring the baby out, unharmed, as soon as she got dressed.
But around 5:20 p.m., police heard gunfire from inside the house. When officers entered, they found both mother and son suffering from gunshot wounds. McKenith apparently fired two shots, striking the child once in the chest before shooting herself in the head, said city Detective Todd McClendon. Both victims were rushed to University Hospital, where they later died.
Neighbors screamed when they heard what had happened. One woman collapsed in tears in the middle of the street. "Tell me this is a dream," one neighbor said.
McCarthy and Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. said they believed the gun McKenith used was her service weapon, issued by the county corrections department.
DiVincenzo said McKenith had an exemplary work record, leaving supervisors and colleagues to grasp for answers
<span style="font-weight: bold">Corrections officer kills self and her baby</span>
Tuesday, August 04, 2009 James QueallySTAR-LEDGER STAFF
An Essex County corrections officer shot and critically injured her boyfriend, then held police at bay for nearly two hours until turning the gun on her infant son, fatally wounding the baby before killing herself yesterday afternoon, authorities said.
Kelley R. McKenith, 39, of Newark was pronounced dead at 5:48 p.m. at University Hospital just minutes after her 4-month-old son, Kaire McKenith, was pronounced dead from a single gunshot wound to the chest, said Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
McKenith, who was hired by the Essex County Corrections Office in February 2005 and worked at the county jail in Newark, shot her boyfriend Louis Goosby, 28, three times, striking him at least once in the leg and grazing his ear, Loriquet said. Goosby remained in critical but stable condition last night at the Newark hospital.
Authorities and neighbors believe Goosby is the baby's father.
"This is a tragic day for the city. We've lost a child. We've lost our child," Mayor Cory Booker said during a news conference less than an hour after the shooting, which took place at McKenith's two-story home on Huntington Terrace in the city's South Ward. "This is a senseless act of violence."
Police director Garry McCarthy said police responded to reports of a dispute at the Huntington Terrace home around 3:47 p.m. When officers arrived, Goosby told them he had jumped out of a second-story window to escape an assault by his girlfriend, McCarthy said.
McKenith barricaded herself inside the house with the baby, forcing police to establish a perimeter and set up a mobile command post, McCarthy said.
Over the next hour, a police negotiator made contact several times with McKenith, who agreed to surrender and bring the baby out, unharmed, as soon as she got dressed.
But around 5:20 p.m., police heard gunfire from inside the house. When officers entered, they found both mother and son suffering from gunshot wounds. McKenith apparently fired two shots, striking the child once in the chest before shooting herself in the head, said city Detective Todd McClendon. Both victims were rushed to University Hospital, where they later died.
Neighbors screamed when they heard what had happened. One woman collapsed in tears in the middle of the street. "Tell me this is a dream," one neighbor said.
McCarthy and Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. said they believed the gun McKenith used was her service weapon, issued by the county corrections department.
DiVincenzo said McKenith had an exemplary work record, leaving supervisors and colleagues to grasp for answers