NEW JERSEY COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM SCHOOL DURING SHUTDOWN http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-5/116140610858260.xml&coll=1

Shot Asbury Park High student dies, and thieves take advantage of closings

Saturday, October 21, 2006

BY MARYANN SPOTOStar-Ledger Staff

The Asbury Park High School student whose shooting led to a two-day district shutdown, died late Thursday night of his injuries.

Tylik Pugh, 18, was shot in the head on Wednesday on the corner of Prospect and Summerfield avenues, two blocks from his Summerfield Avenue home. The 11:20 a.m. gunfire occurred a block from the Asbury Park Middle School which was quickly placed on lockdown.

Pugh was taken to Jersey Shore University Hospital in Neptune where he later died.
Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin said yesterday detectives are still working the case. There were no arrests as of late yesterday.

"We are still actively investigating all appropriate leads," he said. "We impress upon the community and residents that if anyone saw or heard anything ... to contact authorities, even if it is anonymously."

The decision to close down the 2,600-student district was based on a fear of retaliation for Pugh's shooting in a city with massive gang and drug problems.

The superintendent's decision was "based on the safety of the staff and children first," said school board attorney Alan Schnirman on Thursday. But many parents raising families in a crux of violence and poverty said it telegraphed a message of hopelessness.

On day two of the shutdown, burglars broke into a pre-school and stole its computers.

Yesterday's daylight robbery at the Little Tots Early Learning Center on Grand Avenue was reported by a neighbor who saw the thieves load up a van and drive off with the stolen goods, said Sylvia Broderick, owner of the pre-school.

"It's an absolute nightmare," she said.

The school, independently owned but contracted by the city to provide education for 3- to 5-year-olds, was closed Thursday and yesterday along with the entire district.

Prosecutor Valentin said one suspect was in custody last night -- Leroy Kyles of Asbury Park -- and would be looked at in connection with other robberies at the school.

Police have stepped up patrols in the neighborhood of the shooting, on the city's west side, but the preschool break-in was on the east side and Broderick said this was not its first.
She said thieves had hit the school once a week for the past three weeks, despite the school having an operating security alarm.

One day two weeks ago, the burglars rifled through the drawers of the offices, stole office phones and walkie talkies, and "trashed the place," she said.

Broderick said she was not aware of the latest break-in until she arrived at the school at 9:30 a.m. to check on the building and to see whether there were parents there who were not aware of the two-day closing.

Her arrival coincided with police pulling up, responding to the neighbor's call.

She said the burglars threw a rock through the window of the second building, where the offices are located, and stole three computers, a fax machine and printers, she said. These computers contained, among other things, records of the employees' work hours and names and addresses of students.

Broderick said that based on the neighbor's description of the van, police were able to apprehend suspects. She did not immediately know if the school's computers were recovered.

The preschool, in the city for 17 years, provides education to 220 children and is one of five preschools privately operated in Asbury Park.

"How do you rob a school?" Broderick asked.

Yesterday, the school district and city officials sent a note to parents and guardians reminding them classes and extracurricular activities resume on Monday and informing them counseling is available to students in each school.