He was bludgeoned to death with a brick from the M Station construction project, after eating 7-Eleven pizza with his killer.
That’s how “M.P.” met his end early Monday in a stairwell at the Morristown train station, authorities suspect.
Lamar A. Harris, 33, whose last known address is believed to be an affordable housing unit in Morris Township in June 2019, was arrested Wednesday and charged with first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and third-degree possession of an unlawful weapon.
The weapon: A blood-stained brick, found near the body. It appears to have come from a pile at the construction site, which sits between the convenience store and the train station on Morris Street.
The apparent motive: A stash of $100 bills. A 7-Eleven cashier saw the victim produce approximately eight of them on Sunday night, according to a probable cause affidavit.
This account is based on that document.
Store surveillance video shows M.P. eating pizza with a man that investigators identified as Harris with help from a “cooperating witness,” who interacted with the Harris and M.P. inside the store.
(The victim’s name is being withheld at his family’s request, stated Morris County Acting Prosecutor Robert J. Carroll.)
Video shows M.P. paying with cash.
When authorities arrived at the stairwell sometime after 12:29 a.m. on Monday, they found a cell phone in M.P.’s front pocket…but no cash, according to the affidavit by Detective Muhammad Thomas of the prosecutor’s office.
The victim showed injuries to the right side of his face and the back of his head. Morris County Medical Examiner Di Wang ruled the death a homicide, caused by “blunt force trauma” to the head.
M.P. and the cooperating witness both were known to law enforcement. And people on the street may have known of M.P.’s financial bounty.
He came into some money in early March, carrying 17 $100 bills, his sister told authorities. He still had at least seven of them in the week preceding his death, the cooperating witness told investigators.
Security videos from Morris Street businesses purportedly show M.P. walking toward the train station. At a distance, someone matching Harris’ description follows.
That person can be seen running away in a video from an establishment on Lackawanna Place, on the other side of the station, according to Muhammad’s statement.
In 2014, Harris was arrested during a Morris County investigation of the Bloods gang and charged with third-degree possession and distribution of drugs.
Court records indicate a short stint in the Morris County Jail, and a pair of probation violations. The Dover native also was prosecuted on a marijuana charge in 2006.
I’m so sorry Allyson. Your dad was one of my closest friends and I miss him every day. He loved you very much.
this is my dad that passed.
Not Jeff sounds pretty dang upset. I love the name, by the way. Heck, I feel a bit flattered! 🙂
He/she would never let facts get in the way. Folks, we’re talking about homicides here. NJ is at the mid-point: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/guns-crime/news/2019/11/20/477218/gun-violence-america-state-state-analysis/
Who would guess Jeff would make up stats to back up his awful opinions?
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm
NJ is 33rd in # of deaths (368) vs Texas at #1 (3,683).
If we go by death rate, which takes population out of the equation, NJ is the third lowest in the country, behind New York and Massachusetts.
When you gotta lie to back up your “feelings” about guns…
Fern Wolkin, New Jersey was the 28th most deadly state in 2019 for firearms deaths. If you want to call that one of the safest states, go right ahead. There is a lot that you don’t understand, so I will school you.
– It is already against the law to shoot someone without justification. That’s a crime.
– Criminals don’t follow laws. They have guns and will get them, no matter what the laws are.
– There are 100s of millions of guns ALREADY OUT THERE. No law will get them back.
– Disarming law-abiding citizens doesn’t make society safer. Just the opposite.
– Illinois has very strict gun laws. They were also the third most dangerous state for gun violence deaths.
– Disarmed law-abiding citizens are soft targets for mass shootings and other crimes.
Thankfully, the gun-grabbers will fail in their mission.
No need to thank me.
Henry Vance Jr here on the Lamar Harris incident. Knowing Mr Harris. as well as I do I have all faith in the world that Lemar had nothing to do with murdering the homeless guy at the train station. Mr Harris would work numerous jobs for his addiction but he would neverr hurt a fly. This is a matter of lazy police work. Morristown police please get your rookies off this case and get Lamar out of jail
Those officers need to be indicted for defamation of character
What was this guy even doing in Morristown? Why were the two together? They need to either find the details or release them ASAP.
Why are you all bringing politics into this? This isn’t political. This is sad and very close to where many people sleep every night. I walk by that train station and construction site every day. Unfortunately now I don’t feel safe about it.
Surprised there are still any Covid deniers left alive and with enough strength to post dumb comments. Get a life boys.
We need brick control!
The above comment is a ridiculous conflation of common sense gun laws and a crime in general, not involving a gun. One has nothing to do with the other. The idea that all crimes can be avoided with gun laws is absurd and has never been promised. But we know that in NJ, the gun laws in place make us the safest state in the country for gun violence. Keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people who can kill multiple people with an AR15, is common sense. How many people can you kill with a brick?
Tragic, but it’s way too easy to obtain a brick. A background check on Harris would have prevented this from happening. Democrats will now be pushing for brick permits and Dougherty will blame the cops.