Jersey City double murder likely gang-related

[Lucinda F. Boyd]

Hudson prosecutor: Jersey City double murder likely gang-related
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
By SARAH RAHMAN
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Two Jersey City men were both shot in the head yesterday morning at the corner of Woodlawn Avenue and Corcoran Street in what police believe to be a gang-related execution.

At around 4 a.m., cops found Lester "Bleek" Thompson and Mileak Richardson sprawled on the sidewalk face down, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.

"The precise motive for this clearly pre-meditated attack is not known. Money may have been taken from at least one of the victims," DeFazio said.

Mileak, who was shot in the face, was identified by the "cash" tattoo on his hand, according to his mother, Lakisha Richardson, 38, a county employee.

Thompson, who turned 26 on Monday, and Mileak, 17, were cousins and were very close to each other, said Mileak's sister, Lacrisha Richardson, 21, a student at Essex County Community College.

Mileak left his home on Van Nostrand Avenue at around 10:45 p.m. to go to the store and told his mother he would be right back, said Lakisha Richardson, who described her son as a "good person" and "loving father."

Mileak later called his girlfriend, who was staying with the family that night and said he was at a recording studio and would be home around 5 a.m., the mother said. At around 5:30 a.m., Lakisha Richardson said her son's girlfriend woke her up and told her Mileak had been shot.

"This was not necessary. He was not a bad kid to the point where he deserved to be killed," Lacrisha Richardson said about her brother. Mileak lived with his mother and sister and has a 3-year-old daughter, his mother said.

"He (Mileak) was telling me that he was trying to get his life back on track," said Ronald Perkins, 44, the grandfather of Mileak's daughter. "He said he was looking for a job and wanted to better support his daughter. He was getting his life together. He was not a bad kid."

Mileak dropped out of Snyder High School, but was planning to take night classes, his mother said.

People gathered outside Thomspon's home on Van Nostrand Avenue yesterday refused to comment.

Woodlawn Avenue resident Joe O'Neal, 69, said he heard the gunshots and couldn't go back to sleep.

"I heard about five shots and a car take off," O'Neal said. "I was very scared. I haven't slept since."

The Prosecutor's Office and JCPD are investigating the incident. No one has been charged.

Anyone with information about this shooting is asked to call the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office's Homicide Unit at [phone]