Another reason to make sure all firearms are secured from children.........
Bullet kills boy, 12, at friend's townhouse
Shaken East Brunswick fifth-grader tells neighbor: 'I just shot someone'
Tuesday, June 27, 2006 BY JUDY PEET AND NAWAL QAROONI
Star-Ledger Staff
A 12-year-old boy celebrating the first precious days of summer vacation at his friend's East Brunswick townhouse was shot and killed early last night, authorities said.
Police would not release the victim's name, but friends and neighbors who rushed to the scene of the shooting in the close-knit, upscale community of Kingswood Station said he was Alex Khoudiakov, a popular, football-playing pre-teen who had just finished sixth grade at nearby Hammarskjold Middle School.
No arrests were made last night, and few details were released, but authorities confirmed the shooter was a boy who just finished the fifth grade. There also was a third boy in the house with them, authorities said.
Neighbors said the alleged shooter has lived in the development with his father and grandmother for at least three years. The Star-Ledger is withholding the boy's name because of his age.
Rita Gallagher, whose townhouse on Cypress Lane shares a wall with the residence where the shooting occurred, said she was cutting potatoes when she heard a chilling scream outside her front door about 6:15 p.m.
"I bolted out of the house," said Gallagher, adding she was afraid the scream had come from one of her two children, who were out playing.
Instead, she found the alleged shooter standing in the small yard, amid the bikes and skateboards. The boy was wearing a Mets T-shirt, and there was blood on his face, Gallagher said.
"He was shaking ... on the verge of tears. He said, 'I just shot someone,'" Gallagher said, adding the police arrived at that moment and placed the child in a police car.
Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said the initial call to the police came at 6:06 p.m. He said the 12-year-old victim was shot in the head with a handgun inside the townhouse and was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:31 p.m.
Kaplan said no arrests had been made, and he refused to release any further information. Authorities said the death is being investigated as a homicide, but they have not ruled out the possibility of a tragic accident.
As night fell, scores of friends and neighbors gathered in the summer dampness outside the townhouse where the shooting occurred. Children cried and camera phones flashed as Alex's body was removed by the medical examiner's office around 9:30 p.m.
They talked about how safe and family-friendly the neighborhood was and showed pictures of Alex, a blond, blue-eyed child, from his school yearbook.
"There's a million kids in this neighborhood, of all different races and ages, and we all live in harmony," said Linda Lieberman, whose son was in Alex's class. "I'm in absolute shock. I'm mortified that a child would have access to a weapon of any kind."
About a quarter-mile away, another group gathered outside Alex's townhouse, surrounding his distraught, sobbing mother, Irina. Friends hugged her, repeating: "We love you. We love you. We loved him."
The family, including Alex, his mother and his 14-year-old brother, Max, moved into the development in 2004 following the death of Alex's father from cancer.
Located on the outer edge of East Brunswick, as far from noisy Route 18 as possible, Kingswood Station is a middle-class mix of condominiums, townhouses and single-family homes with common play areas.
Alex, several people said, loved the development and the wide variety of kids available to play.
"He was really fun to hang out with -- funny and spontaneous," said Steven Lieberman, 12, who was among the dozens of stunned children and adults keeping vigil outside the house were Alex was shot.
The Tulchinsky family, close friends of Alex and his mother, described him as "a good, good kid" whose family had suffered enough recently.
"She (Irina) lost her husband. She lost her father last year. And now Alex," Faina Tulchinsky said, adding she heard about the shooting when her own son came home crying hysterically. "I never expected this, not in this neighborhood."
Bullet kills boy, 12, at friend's townhouse
Shaken East Brunswick fifth-grader tells neighbor: 'I just shot someone'
Tuesday, June 27, 2006 BY JUDY PEET AND NAWAL QAROONI
Star-Ledger Staff
A 12-year-old boy celebrating the first precious days of summer vacation at his friend's East Brunswick townhouse was shot and killed early last night, authorities said.
Police would not release the victim's name, but friends and neighbors who rushed to the scene of the shooting in the close-knit, upscale community of Kingswood Station said he was Alex Khoudiakov, a popular, football-playing pre-teen who had just finished sixth grade at nearby Hammarskjold Middle School.
No arrests were made last night, and few details were released, but authorities confirmed the shooter was a boy who just finished the fifth grade. There also was a third boy in the house with them, authorities said.
Neighbors said the alleged shooter has lived in the development with his father and grandmother for at least three years. The Star-Ledger is withholding the boy's name because of his age.
Rita Gallagher, whose townhouse on Cypress Lane shares a wall with the residence where the shooting occurred, said she was cutting potatoes when she heard a chilling scream outside her front door about 6:15 p.m.
"I bolted out of the house," said Gallagher, adding she was afraid the scream had come from one of her two children, who were out playing.
Instead, she found the alleged shooter standing in the small yard, amid the bikes and skateboards. The boy was wearing a Mets T-shirt, and there was blood on his face, Gallagher said.
"He was shaking ... on the verge of tears. He said, 'I just shot someone,'" Gallagher said, adding the police arrived at that moment and placed the child in a police car.
Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said the initial call to the police came at 6:06 p.m. He said the 12-year-old victim was shot in the head with a handgun inside the townhouse and was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:31 p.m.
Kaplan said no arrests had been made, and he refused to release any further information. Authorities said the death is being investigated as a homicide, but they have not ruled out the possibility of a tragic accident.
As night fell, scores of friends and neighbors gathered in the summer dampness outside the townhouse where the shooting occurred. Children cried and camera phones flashed as Alex's body was removed by the medical examiner's office around 9:30 p.m.
They talked about how safe and family-friendly the neighborhood was and showed pictures of Alex, a blond, blue-eyed child, from his school yearbook.
"There's a million kids in this neighborhood, of all different races and ages, and we all live in harmony," said Linda Lieberman, whose son was in Alex's class. "I'm in absolute shock. I'm mortified that a child would have access to a weapon of any kind."
About a quarter-mile away, another group gathered outside Alex's townhouse, surrounding his distraught, sobbing mother, Irina. Friends hugged her, repeating: "We love you. We love you. We loved him."
The family, including Alex, his mother and his 14-year-old brother, Max, moved into the development in 2004 following the death of Alex's father from cancer.
Located on the outer edge of East Brunswick, as far from noisy Route 18 as possible, Kingswood Station is a middle-class mix of condominiums, townhouses and single-family homes with common play areas.
Alex, several people said, loved the development and the wide variety of kids available to play.
"He was really fun to hang out with -- funny and spontaneous," said Steven Lieberman, 12, who was among the dozens of stunned children and adults keeping vigil outside the house were Alex was shot.
The Tulchinsky family, close friends of Alex and his mother, described him as "a good, good kid" whose family had suffered enough recently.
"She (Irina) lost her husband. She lost her father last year. And now Alex," Faina Tulchinsky said, adding she heard about the shooting when her own son came home crying hysterically. "I never expected this, not in this neighborhood."
