Plainfield man Pernell O. White has been arrested and charged with being responsible for a shooting that left two people seriously injured late last month, acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo and Plainfield Police Director Lisa Burgess jointly announced Friday.
White, 33, is charged with two counts of first-degree attempted murder and three related second-degree weapons offenses.
Shortly after 9 p.m. on Monday, August 31, members of the Plainfield Police Division responded to the area of New and West 4th streets, where they encountered the two shooting victims, a 26-year-old male and a 37-year-old male, according to the investigation. The victims were transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick for emergency treatment.
The investigation, spearheaded by Plainfield Police Division Criminal Investigation Bureau Detective Ilyas Muhammad, resulted in White being identified as a suspect in the shooting, and he was arrested without incident on Wednesday and lodged in the Union County Jail, with a first appearance and detention hearing pending in Superior Court.
The fatal shooting of 23-year-old Plainfield man Leroy Hayes, which took place on the 200 block of Pond Place in Plainfield earlier on the evening of August 31, remains under an active joint investigation led by the Union County Homicide Task Force and assisted by the Plainfield Police Division, Union County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Unit, and Union County Police Department Ballistics Unit. Anyone with information on either incident is being urged to contact Prosecutor’s Office Detective Lamar Hartsfield at 908-451-1873 or Sgt. Christopher Scuorzo at 908-472-0492.
The Union County Crime Stoppers are also offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment in connection with the fatal shooting of Hayes; tips can be given anonymously by phone at 908-654-TIPS (8477) or online at www.uctip.org.
Convictions on criminal charges of this nature are commonly punishable by terms of up to life in state prison.
These criminal charges are mere accusations. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.