New Jersey mall fatal carjacking surveillance video reveals suspects' mindset

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Thursday, November 13, 2014
NJ mall fatal carjacking surveillance video reveals suspects' mindset
The men who carjacked and killed a man during last year's holiday shopping season in New Jersey stalked his car days before the shooting, according to surveillance video.

NEWARK, N.J. (KABC) -- The men who carjacked and killed a man during last year's holiday shopping season in New Jersey stalked his car days before the shooting, according to surveillance video.



It's been nearly a year since the deadly carjacking outside the Mall at Short Hills, an upscale shopping center in New Jersey, where 30-year-old Dustin Friedland was gunned down.



His widow's attorney, Bruce Nagel, shared exclusive, never-before-seen surveillance video with ABC News. Nagel says the footage shows how the killers chose their target.



A surveillance still image shows the car driven by the suspects in the fatal carjacking in the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey in December 2013.

Experts say it appears that the carjackers did a dry run to test security three days before Friedland was killed. The killers apparently stalked Friedland's white Range Rover in their vehicle.



Then, on Dec. 15 at 8:51 p.m., the killers put their plan into action. The surveillance footage shows the suspects' car parking next to a different white car. Then, when the driver didn't show up within a few minutes, the accused killers moved to a different parking lot, apparently waiting for Friedland and his wife to finish their holiday shopping.



When Friedland and his wife, Jamie Schare Friedland, returned to their car, they were confronted by the carjackers. Friendland was shot in the head, but his wife was unharmed.



After the shooting, the footage shows the suspects racing away in their car, followed by Friedland's own Range Rover that they wanted to snatch.



A surveillance still image shows the car driven by the suspects in the fatal carjacking in the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey in December 2013.

"It is incredible. You see both the perpetrators' vehicle and my clients' vehicle, speeding out of the mall. There is nobody there. There is no policeman to stop them," Nagel said.


Nagel says this case should serve as a wakeup call for malls to increase security during holiday shopping season.



"If the malls want people to come and spend their money at stores that are located there, they've got to make it safe and this case says to them go out and take the steps to make sure your patrons are going to be safe," Nagel said.



Jamie Schare Friedland filed a wrongful death lawsuit earlier this year, seeking unspecified damages. She accused the mall owners of reducing security to increase profits and first responders of mishandling a call for help, allegations those parties deny.



Mall lawyer Christopher McIntyre, citing the ongoing litigation, declined to discuss any aspect of the case or of security at the shopping center with ABC News.



Four men charged in the case have pleaded not guilty to felony murder and other charges.



A surveillance still image shows the car driven by the suspects in the fatal carjacking in the Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey in December 2013.

ABC News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.



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