A photo of victim Dashon Harvey is left at a makeshift memorial on the schoolyard. NEWARK, New Jersey -- It's a crime that stunned even this community -- Newark, New Jersey -- where murders are all too common. Already this year, 60 people have been murdered.
This past Saturday night, four teenagers were killed execution-style, lined up against a wall and shot in the head. Three are dead and one is clinging to life at a nearby hospital.
Natasha Aerial, 19, is the lone survivor of this senseless attack that took place behind Mt. Vernon Elementary School Saturday night. Her brother, Terrence, and her friends, Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey, are dead.
Family members of the victims are heartbroken. Dashon's father, James Harvey, spoke at a press conference on Monday saying, "Innocent people are dying needlessly, unnecessarily."
Hightower's Great Uncle, John McClain, a pastor and a police chaplain, compares the grisly murders to terrorism.
"The government of the United States is fighting terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan. But we have terrorists right here. Every week someone is shot and killed. What happened Saturday night, if that wasn't a terrorist act, you have to tell me what was," McClain said.
Everyone I've talked to in this city says these were good kids. Three were enrolled at Delaware State University.
Essex County Prosecutor Paul Dow said they are "the best Newark had to offer." She calls the crime a horrible robbery that went terribly wrong. "We're not ruling out gangs or any other theory in this case."
A makeshift memorial is getting bigger as mourners visit the crime scene throughout the day. One group placed balloons. A note was left by a friend, saying "I miss you."
Wanda Slater came to the memorial with her fiance. Her daughter knew Iofemi Hightower. Slater is frustrated by the violence in her community and feels very strongly that members of a local gang committed these murders.
The football team from West Side High, wearing their white and green jerseys, came to mourn their classmates. One team member said he's lost ten friends in the last two years -- all were shot and killed.
-- By Laura Dolan, CNN Producer