Boy, 9, Is Fatally Shot in Newark, Officials Say

A 9-year-old boy was fatally shot Friday evening in Newark about three blocks from where a 36-year-old man who had been wounded by gunfire was found, the authorities said.

The wounded man was found at 38 Yates Street, and the child was killed near 130 Osborne Terrace, said Carmen Martin, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. The shootings took place shortly before 6 p.m., she said.

The man and child did not appear to be related, Ms. Martin said on Saturday. The boy was leaving a vehicle with his father and sister outside of his home nearby when he was shot, she said.

Ms. Martin declined to say on Fridaywhether the shootings were connected or whether any arrests had been made. Neither victim has been identified, and Ms. Martin said the investigation was continuing.

The Newark Police Department declined to comment.

Ras J. Baraka, Newark’s mayor, said in a statement Friday night that he was “outraged” by the boy’s killing and asked for people with information to call the prosecutor’s office.

“It is sickening to me that anyone would be so deranged to recklessly endanger an innocent child,” Mr. Baraka said. “And that the child lost his life, is just infuriating to me as a father myself.”

Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, has struggled with crime for years. Statistics released last month showed that the number of homicides in the city had dropped more than 20 percent last year, although violent crime rose overall.

Amid that increase, Newark officials said last June that the city would begin enforcing a nightly curfew for people under 18 that had been on the books, but largely ignored, since 1992.

Hurubie Meko contributed reporting.