People hold posters showing friends DaShon Harvey, 20, Terrance Aeriel, 18, and Iofemi Hightower, 20, at Saturday's funeral for Hightower at the Grace Temple Baptist Church in Newark. The three were lined up and fatally shot in a schoolyard the night of Aug. 4.

Newark, N.J. ? The four college-age friends who were hanging out in a schoolyard late on a Saturday night were the type of children who make hometowns proud, especially hard-luck hometowns like this one.

They had passions – notably for music, which had brought most of them together. And they had ambitions: One of them was already an ordained minister, another about to be promoted in her job at a nursing home.

By almost any measure they were success stories. Three of them were home from Delaware State University, and another was set to enroll this fall.

But over several horrifying minutes, in the schoolyard of an elementary school, the four friends – their names were Natasha and Terrance Aeriel, Iofemi Hightower and Dashon Harvey – became something else entirely.

Three of them – Harvey and Hightower, both 20, and Terrance Aeriel, 18 – were forced to kneel in front of a wall and shot to death at close range. Natasha, Terrance’s sister, was shot in the head and survived.

Newark can’t shake violence

The three who died became murder victims Nos. 57, 58 and 59 of this year in Newark, which, despite the efforts of a charismatic mayor who won office last year promising to hoist the city out of a cauldron of crime, cannot seem to shake the violence.

A 28-year-old man, Jose Carranza, and a teenage boy were charged Thursday in the slayings, and a third person was arrested after questioning Friday. In turning himself in, Carranza found himself face to face with the mayor.

Authorities were searching for more suspects. On Saturday, they announced an arrest warrant for a man Newark police described as “a principal player” in the case.

As Natasha lay in a hospital recovering, helping investigators when her sedation allowed it, law enforcement groups and residents assembled a $150,000 reward fund for information leading to arrests and indictments in the case. They also set up a fund to help the families of the victims. Others marched on city hall, calling for Mayor Cory A. Booker to step down.

Even in a place where violent crime has become ingrained in the rhythm of the city, worn into life here for decades, the slayings have shaken people deeply

The night of Aug. 4

What happened there on the night of Aug. 4 been pieced together in Associated Press interviews with authorities, neighbors and friends of the victims. Many details were provided to investigators by Natasha Aeriel from her hospital bed.

After picking up Harvey, the group arrived at the playground about 11 p.m. The large swath of asphalt behind the elementary school is shielded from the street by the school on one side and by houses and a high-rise apartment building on the other three.

As the group assembled on a low set of aluminum bleachers near concrete stairs that lead down to a courtyard and alley behind the school, they noticed a few other people in the playground. Soon, others filtered in.

Authorities said they do not know whether the new arrivals had been contacted by those who were already there. But Hightower, Harvey and the Aeriels became fearful and began text-messaging each other, apparently not wanting to reveal their concern.

The contents of the messages have not been released, and authorities have not given precise details of the moments that immediately followed the text messaging, but the confrontation soon took a deadly turn.

Investigators believe Hightower tried to fend off one of her attackers, as she was later discovered with knife wounds on her arms.

A neighbor heard a woman’s voice shouting, “Don’t do that! Don’t do that!”

Then came the gunshots.

Tasha Aeriel took a bullet in the head, police said, leaving her slumped next to the bleachers. The other three were then marched down the steps and made to kneel in front of a wall.

First responders on scene

When first responders arrived, they found Tasha clinging to life. Down the steps and to the right they found Hightower, T.J. and Harvey on the ground in front of the wall, each shot through the back of the head.

The area where their bodies were found is illuminated by high-powered security lights and monitored by two cameras mounted on the outside of the building. Investigators have found the cameras had been tampered with but don’t know whether that’s connected with the killings.

Five days after the shootings, Jose Carranza, considered the principal suspect, offered to surrender to Booker in the presence of a well-known Newark attorney. The two came face to face at police headquarters.

A second suspect, a 15-year-old boy, was being held pending a detention hearing. Authorities were seeking to have him tried as an adult. His name was not released because of his age.

Carranza pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Friday. After the arrests, Shalga Hightower said she wanted “the right justice” for her daughter, Iofemi, and the other victims.

Crime won’t go away

Even as crime has fallen in other big cities around the country – most visibly in New York City, just across the Hudson River – it has remained a vivid part of life in Newark, much of it tied to gangs and the drug trade.

A confidential consultant’s report obtained by the Star-Ledger of Newark and published earlier this year harshly criticized the city police department for cronyism, inefficiency and outdated technology.

Patience here has worn thin, or worn out.

Hounded by news cameras in the days after the shootings, the Aeriels’ mother pleaded with Booker to “do something.” Donna Jackson, president of a community organization called Take Back Our Streets, demanded that Booker and Police Director Garry F. McCarthy resign.

“It takes something like this for people to open up their eyes and understand that not every person killed in Newark is a drug dealer,” Jackson said.