Crime & Safety

Reward Up to $41K for Short Hills Mall Carjackers

Surveillance tapes and the vacant house where the stolen SUV was dumped in Newark are being investigated.

The owners of The Mall at Short Hills and CrimeStopper programs have combined to quadruple the reward for the two carjackers who killed a Hoboken man outside the mall Sunday night.

Meanwhile, authorities continued their investigation Tuesday into the carjacking murder of Dustin Friedland, examining both surveillance footage and the man’s recovered Range Rover. 

Friedland, 30, was shot in the head when he and his wife returned to their SUV shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday after an evening of Christmas shopping with his wife. Friedland was pronounced dead at 11:45 p.m. that night at Morristown Medical Center. His wife, Jamie, who was uninjured, was also transported to the hospital, according to the Essex County Prosecutor.

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Investigators are looking at mall tapes and searching behind a vacant, boarded-up house on Renner Avenue in Newark where the SUV was found according to NJ.com

Taubman Co., which owns the mall, offered a $20,000 reward Tuesday for the capture and conviction of the carjackers, according to NJ.com. The reward was added to the initial $10,000 offering from the Essex County CrimeStoppers Program. The program added an additional $10,000 on Tuesday, while the Morris County Crime Stoppers provided an additional $1,000, bringing the total reward to $41,000.

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Michael McAvinue, general manager of the mall, told The Item of Millburn and Short Hills that the mall is "working closely" with investigators and that they are "shocked and saddened" by the incident, according to the report.

The mall was briefly on lockdown after the incident Sunday while authorities investigated.

On Monday, a guest services representative wouldn’t say whether security had been increased following the shooting but claimed that the mall "has excellent security out there everyday, as well as members of the Millburn police department."

Across JFK Parkway, The Short Hills Hilton has increased security measures, according to Megan Pello, Hilton sales and marketing coordinator.

"Our security team has assured me that they take this matter very seriously as the safety of our guests and team members is paramount," Pello told Patch. "They have bolstered our security measures during this time and throughout the holiday season."

Friedland was fatally shot after struggling with the two carjackers, anonymous law enforcement officials told NJ.com. Friedland's wife was then ordered out of the vehicle before the two thieves drove off—one in the couple's silver Range Rover and a second man in a green sport utility vehicle, the sources told NJ.com.
Friedland, who lived in Hoboken, was originally from Toms River.

Services for Friedland, an avid runner from Hobokenare scheduled to be held Wednesday in Ocean County.



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