Crime & Safety

Services To Be Held For Hoboken Resident Killed in Short Hills Carjacking

Funeral services will be held Wednesday for a 30-year-old Toms River native who was killed in a Short Hills Mall carjacking this weekend.

The services for Dustin Friedland, 30, will be held at 11 a.m. at Beth Am Shalom, 1235 Route 70, Lakewood, according to the funeral home's website.

Arrangements are under the direction of The Family owned Carmona-Bolen Home for Funerals, 412 Main St, Toms River. Condolences can be sent to: carmonabolenfh.com

Friedland was shot in the head when he and his wife returned to their SUV shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday, according to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.

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.

His Facebook page said he was a graduate of Toms River North High School and a 2006 graduate of Bucknell University.

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."

Edward Keller, principal of Toms River North, was not principal when Friedland attended, but he noted he was an avid swimmer and rower.

"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.

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The thieves fled the scene in the couple's silver Range Rover, which 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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