Short Hills Mall Shooting: Victim’s Funeral Announced, Reward For Information Reaches $30,000
The Short Hills Mall shooting victim’s funeral has been announced by the family as police and the mall up the reward for information leading to the capture of the suspects to $30,000.
Services for 30-year-old Dustin Friedland will to be held at 11 am on Wednesday at Beth Am Shalom in Lakewood, New Jersey.
Friedland was fatally shot in the head on Sunday evening as he was returning to his vehicle with his wife after an afternoon shopping at the Short Hills Mall.
The two suspects, described as black males, took the couple’s Range Rover, but police recovered the vehicle on Monday morning about eight-miles away from the scene of the crime.
Friedland, who was a lawyer, worked as a project manager at the family’s heating, cooling, and air conditioning business in the city of Neptune.
Police say that the couple was returning to their vehicle, located in the Short Hills Mall parking lot.
After Friedland had opened the door for his wife and was about to get in the car, he was confronted by the two individuals and shot in the head.
The victim was rushed from Short Hills Mall to Morristown Medical Center, where he later died. The victim’s wife was also taken to the hospital, but she was not injured.
The funeral service for 30-year-old Dustin Friedland, killed in a carjacking at the Short Hills Mall, will be hel… pic.twitter.com/7rGcZ8ZIce
— The Jewish Standard (@JewishStandard) December 17, 2013
Essex County Sheriff’s Crime Stoppers Program is offering $10,000 for information leading to the capture of the killers in the Short Hills Mall shooting, and an additional $20,000 is being offered by the Taubman Company, which owns the mall.
According to a source close to the investigation, Dustin Friedland was protecting his wife when he was shot and killed in the Short Hills Mall parking garage.
The couple had just returned to the vehicle with holiday presents for friends and family when one of the suspects ordered Jamie Friedland out of the vehicle, and another demanded the keys to the Range Rover from the man.
“He knew his wife was in there and he refused,” the source told the Daily News on Monday.
Police say a struggle ensued and four shots were fired, one of them killing the brave man who has been described as a devoted husband.
The couple’s 2012 Range Rover, which is worth at least $70,000, was found Monday morning in the back of an abandoned Newark house, police said.
1st pic Short hills mall carjacked range rover recovered #nbc4ny pic.twitter.com/qHBOlWm0WR
— Brian Thompson (@brian4NY) December 16, 2013
The area has seen an alarming increase in carjackings, and authorities believe that the couple was targeted at the Short Hills Mall by members of a carjacking ring who were after their silver SUV.
Investigators are reviewing surveillance video from the parking garage in order to help them search for the killers.
Anyone with information on the deadly Short Hills Mall shooting is urged to contact the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force tips line at 1-877-847-7432.
