Crime & Safety
Hoboken Attorney ID'd as Man Killed in Short Hills Mall Carjacking
Dustin Friedland, 30, was shot and killed in a parking garage, his SUV was recovered Monday in Newark.
The man shot and killed during a carjacking outside of Short Hills Mall Sunday night has been identified as a Hoboken attorney, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said.
Dustin Friedland, 30, was shot in the head when he and his wife returned to their SUV shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday, the prosecutor's office said. Friedland was pronounced dead at 11:45 p.m. Sunday at Morristown Medical Center. His wife was not injured but also transported to the hospital, the prosecutor's office said.
Friedland, who was originally from Toms River, purchased a home in Hoboken with his wife in October. He was an estimator and project manager for Epic Mechanical in Neptune, according to northjersey.com.
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Nick Malfitano, a Patch writer who was Friedland's classmate at Toms River North, said Friedland was "a good man and a great classmate of mine at Toms River North who made life better for everyone around him."
He said he was "intelligent, funny and always ready with a smile and a laugh."
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"We’re all, of course, shocked and saddened by what happened," he said. "When we found out it was one of our alumni, it really hit home.
He said people speak highly of him and say he was "a great kid, the kind of kid who really went with the flow."
The Asbury Park Press reported that in 1999, Friedland was named Eagle Scout for Troop 29 in Toms River and in 2002, the 19-year-old Friedland posed as George Washington for an America’s Day celebration at the Pine Beach Elementary School.
He competed in the N.J. Rowing Championship in 2001 and, as a swimmer, placed third in the Toms River North-Brick Memorial 500-yard freestyle meet in 2000, according to Press files, as reported Monday.
More recently, Friedland had been a member of the Hoboken Harriers Running Club. Running club members expressed shock and offered their condolences Monday on the group's Facebook page.
"He was such a nice guy," HOHA member Joe DeFlora wrote. "He and his wife were only married a short time. She must be devastated."
Friedland and his wife, Jamie—who both attended Syracuse University College of Law—married in 2011 and had no children, according to the New York Post.
Friedland's silver Range Rover was recovered Monday morning on the 200 block of Renner Avenue in Newark, the prosecutor's office said.
No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The Essex County Crime Stopper's Program is offering a $10,000 reward for any information on the case, according to the prosecutor's office.
If anyone has any information or tips on the incident, call the Essex County Prosecutor's Office Homicide/Major Crimes Task Force line at 1-877-847-7432.
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