21-year-old tells police he threw his infant daughter off Driscoll Bridge after alleged abduction
By James Queally/The Star-Ledger
February 16, 2010, 11:46PM
EAST ORANGE -- What started as a domestic dispute may have ended in tragedy tonight, after a 21-year-old Galloway Township man told police he threw his three-month old daughter from the Driscoll Bridge after abducting her in East Orange this afternoon, authorities said.
Police found the man, Shamshiddin Abdur-Raheem, sometime after 8 p.m. at a family member’s residence in the Sicklerville section of Winslow Township, Camden County, according to Winslow police Lt. Michael Hoffman. There was no sign of his young daughter Zara Malani-Lin Abdur-Raheem, whom East Orange police claim he kidnapped late this afternoon.
Hoffman said police received a call from a family member saying Abdur-Raheem was in the area, and when local law enforcement questioned him about the alleged abduction, he told them he had thrown the young girl off the Driscoll Bridge and into the Raritan River while driving along the Garden State Parkway southbound, according to East Orange police Sgt. Andrew Dielmo.
New Jersey State Police rescue crews were searching the river tonight, according to Dielmo, and East Orange detectives were traveling to Winslow Twp. to interview Abdur-Raheem.
Police believe Abdur-Raheem abducted the baby girl inside an apartment on the 200 block of South Harrison Street in East Orange after he attacked the child’s grandmother. While he is the biological father, according to Dielmo, Abdur-Raheem does not have custody rights.
The 21-year-old was arguing with the child’s grandmother at 4:19 p.m. when police claim he punched the elderly woman, ripped his young daughter from her arms and left the house, Dielmo said. Abdur-Raheem reportedly then placed the girl, dressed only in green pajamas, inside a van and drove off. A Dodge Caravan is registered to Abdur-Raheem’s mother.
The identities of the child’s mother and grandmother were not immediately available. Abdur-Raheem and the child’s mother are not married, and it was not clear if they were having relationship problems, Dielmo said.
East Orange Police requested an Amber alert notification, which was scheduled to be issued sometime tonight by the State Police. Amber alerts broadcast information about missing children and their alleged captors to radio and television broadcasters and state transportation officials.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/police_search_for_east_orange.html
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