Reaction to quadruple shooting is swift and condemning

ORANGE, NJ — Reaction around Orange and East Orange was swift, in the wake of the quadruple shooting on the front porch of a Cleveland Street residence in Orange on Thursday, Nov. 3, that left 21-month-old Marcus Milien and his uncle, Morlens Milien, 21, dead.

“It’s bad, because I know it’s a lot of problems in Orange — they’ve got a lot of gang activity and stuff going on — but to come out in broad daylight and shoot at somebody while kids are getting out of school, that’s horrific,” said Donny Don, a resident of East Orange, said Friday, Nov. 4. “I think the difference between East Orange and Orange is the police forces. Orange has a small police department. … There’s not enough cops in Orange. And I think the people in Orange that are doing the crimes, they’re kind of comfortable with doing things and getting away with it. It just seems like they’re comfortable there because of that.”

Robert Simmons, a resident of East Orange, said he has definitely noticed a difference in the quality of policing in the sister cities during the last few years. He said things have been getting better in East Orange, while they seem to be going from bad to worse in Orange.

“But the ignorance of the gang situation and the way that police are handling it seems like the police are scared to actually interact with the groups that are on the corner,” Simmons said Thursday, Nov. 3. “I came through there yesterday, when it was going on in Orange, because the helicopter alerted me to what was going on in the community. I truly believe that thing that happened yesterday was inhumane.”