4-year-old boy shot, killed in Camden

A 4-year-old boy was killed in a shootout on a Camden street this evening when he was caught in the cross fire between several men, authorities said.

The child, whose name has not yet been released, was outside his home on Norris Street with his mother at about 5:20 p.m. when several men opened fire on each other from opposite sides of the street, said Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

Dozens of rounds were exchanged, shattering the rear windshield of a parked car and leaving shell casings littering the sidewalks. Only the child was hit.

Laughlin could not comment on how many people were involved in the shooting. Police so far have identified one suspect: Donald Benjamin Lindsay, a 20-year-old Camden resident.

Neighbors said the men who opened fire were aiming at a man who was riding a bicycle down Norris Street, past the boy's house.

The child was taken to Cooper University Hospital, Laughlin said, but pronounced dead there.

The killing, Camden's 36th so far this year, comes less than a week after Attorney General Anne Milgram announced a major police department reorganization that has put more police officers on the streets in an effort to combat the city's persistent crime. Camden's homicide rate is on pace to match its highest-ever recorded number, 58 in 1995, and Milgram has said the direness of the city's problems demands immediate and dramatic action.

Last Wednesday, as Milgram outlined the new Camden Community Safety Initiative, she also announced the promotion of Scott Thomson, a former deputy police chief, to the position of chief. Louis Vega, a former New York City officer with 40 years of experience in urban policing, was named the city's new civilian police director.

That night, more than 100 police officers took to the streets to launch the new crime-fighting strategy, gathering with blaring sirens and a state police helicopter on a corner less than 10 blocks away from last night's killing.