Orange man sought in deadly shooting outside Newark bar
Cops say fatal act was a birthday desire
Thursday, April 13, 2006
BY JONATHAN SCHUPPE
Star-Ledger Staff
It was almost 3 a.m., closing time at the Cave Lounge in Newark. The DJ had cut off the music, the lights were on, and about 75 people were peacefully heading toward the exit.
But just outside the front door was a man with a gun.
He\'d been drinking at the bar for nearly an hour, celebrating his birthday with some friends and had stepped outside with them for a smoke, police said. Right across from them, on the other side of Halsey Street, another group of Cave Lounge patrons was doing the same thing.
Then, the man said something about wanting to shoot someone, simply because it was his birthday, witnesses told police. He pulled out the gun, walked across the street and, without saying a word, shot 27-year-old Lance Pettiford, once in the head, police said.
Pettiford, of Newark, fell mortally wounded, and the gunman ran, police said.
Yesterday, after three days of interviewing witnesses and collecting evidence, Newark police identified the shooter as Arthur L. Tiggs, 26, an Orange resident with no significant criminal record. Police remained baffled, however, at the lack of an apparent motive: The two men didn\'t know each other, and hadn\'t argued.
"This victim\'s life was taken for no reason at all," Police Director Anthony Ambrose said. "What a shame."
It was the second deadly attack at the Cave Lounge in three years. In February 2003, a masked man poked his head into the bar\'s front door, sprayed the place with automatic gunfire and fled. Three people died and three others were injured. The man charged, Taqwi Scott, was acquitted by an Essex County jury last year.
The latest shooting, which occurred Sunday morning, has all of Newark\'s Lincoln Park neighborhood on edge. Some residents are calling for the Cave Lounge to be closed. The tavern\'s owners say they\'re not at fault, but are promising added security.
And the hunt is on for Tiggs.
Just before dawn yesterday, investigators from the Newark Police Department and the Essex County Prosecutor\'s Office searched an apartment on Parrow Street in Orange where family members said Tiggs had stopped on Monday to drop off his 6-year-old daughter. He told relatives he was going south, police said.
Tiggs has one criminal charge on his adult record. He was arrested in 2003 by Middlesex County authorities for receiving stolen property and possessing burglary tools. The case was dismissed a year later.
Pettiford, the brother of a Newark police officer, was a well-liked regular at the Cave, co-owner Vanessa Walker said. He had been outside the bar for 10 or 15 minutes before he was shot, she said.
"Lance was a gentleman," Walker said. "He never caused a problem, and he never had an argument in here. My heart goes out to his family."
Pettiford\'s family, including his sister, police officer Sharonda Morris, declined to comment yesterday. They were planning his funeral, which will be held Saturday.