Recent spate of crime, gun violence has Jersey City residents on edge

JERSEY CITY (WABC) -- A recent spate of crime and gun violence has residents in Jersey City on edge Friday.

Police are stepping up patrols after the the most recent incident, when the 35-year-old son of the Jersey City fire chief was gunned down during a suspected robbery.

Darcel Rivers was talking with his girlfriend on his cell phone when he was robbed and shot in the Greenville section. It was the fourth shooting there in the past few days.

"His last words to me were, 'They are robbing me,'" girlfriend Sheria Hazzard said, describing Rivers' final haunting words. "And I heard him breathing heavy."

Rivers was walking along Fulton Avenue early Thursday, heading back to his mother's home when he was suddenly approached.

"After I hear the voice of someone saying 'Get off the effing phone,' and I said, 'Who's that?'" Hazzard said. "And he said, 'They are robbing me.'"

By the time police got to the scene, Rivers was mortally wounded shot with a gunshot wound to the head.

"There is video from yesterday," Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said. "We are going through it, tracking cell phones. We are doing the work we are supposed to do."

Rivers' death is the sixth homicide of the year, officials say, and the fourth shooting in eight days.

"Your life can be torn apart in a matter of seconds," shooting victim Yvonne Scott said.

Fighting back tears, Scott described being shot in the back and then being robbed by a group of bystanders while waiting for medical attention. Hers was the last of three shootings in a three-hour period on May 27. A 50-year-old man was also killed by a stray bullet while working on his car.

On Friday, 32 new Jersey City police officers were sworn in during a ceremony at City Hall. They will immediatly be assigned to Greenville in the south and the west part of the city.

"The south and the west have more cops than other districts right now," public safety director James Shea said. "It's a better place for them to start and to learn. Some of our best police officers are there."

There is added vigilance in certain areas and more patrols are promised on the streets during the active summer months.

"Hopefully, these officers will increase some visibility during key times and make people feel safer," Fulop said. "That's the goal here."