A New Jersey man wanted for questioning in connection with a weekend knife attack at a Newark home that left two children and a woman dead has been taken into custody, authorities said.
Investigators said 26-year-old Jeremy Arrington was taken into custody late last night after he barricaded himself inside a Newark home. Arrington had been identified by police as a "person of interest" in the Saturday afternoon attack that also left three people wounded.
A possible motive for the attack has not been disclosed.
Arrington has not been charged in the stabbings, but was also wanted on charges of sexual assault and aggravated assault for an unrelated incident on October 9, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A Murray said at a news conference after the stabbings.
Prosecutors yesterday released the names of the three who were killed. They said 8-year-old Aerial Little Whitehurst and 11-year-old Al-Jahon Whitehurst both died at a hospital shortly after the attack. A county spokesman said the two Newark children are related, but he declined further comment.
The three injured - a 29-year-old woman, a 13-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl - remained hospitalised in critical but stable condition.
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Saturday called the attack "one of the most tragic and savage" he's seen. The mayor pleaded for anyone with information to come forward, NJ.Com reported.
"We have to get him immediately before he hurts someone else," he said. "As long as he's on the street, nobody is safe."
Police offered a USD 20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
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