Man and woman fatally shot in Newark apartment; 3 children nearby not hurt

NEWARK (WABC) -- A man and a woman were fatally shot inside an apartment in Newark late Saturday night in front of three young children.

Police have identified the two victims who were shot as 23-year-old Ashley Jones, and 28-year-old Jarrell Marshall.

"We heard six to eight gunshots, and then after the gunshots were finished, that little girl said 'where's my mommy, where's my mommy?'" said neighbor Vernice Cromer, "Then we heard nothing but sirens."

The terrified little girl was inside the apartment, and was one of three children, all under the age of 5.

Friends came to the apartment on Clinton Place to pay tribute to Jones. Police say Saturday evening around 9:30, someone came to the building and fatally shot the mother of three. Also killed was 28-year-old Jarrell Marshall, who friends say was Jones' boyfriend.

"It was bound to happen, she was shaking, and she was scared," says a friend of Jones who did not want to be identified.

The friend says Jones desperately tried to get away from an ex-boyfriend. She adds that he would often show up to the apartment, and was verbally and physically abusive. At this point, police are not saying who the suspect is, but the friend could not forget what happened to Jones just last week.

"She was trying to get away - she climbed through the window at 7 in the morning. Her eye was black and blue, she was saying she got a restraining order," says the friend.

The Essex County Prosecutor's office tells Eyewitness News that the three children are okay, and are either with family members or Child Protection.

No arrests have currently been made.

Police were also on the scene of a police-involved shooting in Newark earlier Saturday evening, but so far prosecutors say the two events do not appear to be related.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)