NORTH PLAINFIELD – A reward of up to $5,000 is being offered by Crime Stoppers of Somerset County for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person responsible for a double-fatal shooting in the borough last week in which a third person was critically injured.
Cousins Christian Orellana, 31, and Steven Jimenez, 14, both of West 4th Street, Plainfield, were killed in the Aug. 13 shooting. The New Jersey Northern Regional Medical Examiners performed a post-mortem examination on the two victims and classified their deaths as homicides, according to Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson.
How we got here: Plainfield cousins ID’d as victims in fatal North Plainfield apartment complex shooting
A 28-year-old man, who is also a cousin, was critically injured in the shooting and remains hospitalized.
Around 8:06 p.m. Aug. 13, North Plainfield police responded to a 911 call reporting multiple shooting victims at the Malcolm Gardens Apartment Complex on Little Place.
Arriving officers found three shooting victims and immediately initiated life-saving measures. Emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene along with a medevac helicopter while the area was secured as a crime scene.
Emergency medical personnel from North Plainfield Fire Department Emergency Medical Services, Medic 1 from Atlantic Health, and the New Jersey State Police North Star Medevac all responded to provided critical life-saving measures and triage the scene.
Jimenez was pronounced dead at the scene while Orellana was taken by ambulance to an undisclosed trauma center where he was pronounced dead, Robertson said.
The third cousin was transported by helicopter to an undisclosed trauma center where he underwent emergency surgery for multiple gunshot wounds, Robertson said.
A preliminary investigation indicates all three victims were outside on a first-floor patio area of the apartment where one of the victims lives.
The shooter or shooters confronted the victims as they were outside and fired multiple rounds within close proximity, striking all three cousins, Robertson said.
The investigation is continuing by detectives from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit, the Crime Scene Investigations Unit, the North Plainfield Police Department, and investigators for the New Jersey Northern Regional Medical Examiner’s Office.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Somerset County Prosecutors Office 908-231-7100 or the North Plainfield Police Department at 908-769-2937 or via the STOPit app. Information also can be provided through the Somerset County Crime Stoppers’ Tip Line at 1-888-577-TIPS (8477). All anonymous STOPit reports and Crime Stopper tips will be kept confidential.
Email: srussell@gannettnj.com
Suzanne Russell is a breaking news reporter for MyCentralJersey.com covering crime, courts and other mayhem. To get unlimited access, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
