Murder suspect of homeless roommate at St Lucy's Shelter (Franciska Residence for homeless men living with HIV/AIDS) turns self in to police

Terrance Grant, 49, suspected of murdering a homeless man New Year's Day in Jersey City, has turned himself into authorities. (Hudson County Prosecutor's Office)

Ken Thorbourne
The Jersey Journal

The man suspected of killing another homeless man at a Jersey City shelter on New Year's Day turned himself in to police last night, according to the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office.

Terrance Grant, 49, (also known and spelled as Terence Grant), turned himself into the East District of the Jersey City Police Department Saturday at around 9:45 p.m., Assistant Prosecutor Gene Rubino stated today in a press release.

Grant was then turned over to the Prosecutor?s Homicide Unit. Grant is currently being held in the Hudson County Correctional Facility on $500,000.00 cash-only bail and he is expected to make his first court appearance early this week, Rubino said.

Grant is charged with the murder of 51-year-old Jose Rodriguez, whose body was found by his roommate at the Franciska Residence, 615 Grove St., on New Year's Day. Rodriguez, originally of Newark, was pronounced dead that the scene shortly before 9 p.m.

Yesterday, the Medical Examiner determined that the death Rodriguez was caused by multiple blunt force injuries to the head and the manner of death was homicide, Rubino stated.

Rodriguez was interviewed last month by The Jersey Journal for a series about homelessness.

?I wish ... that one day I could be able to buy me a house for me and my family, for me and my brothers, for us to be together,? he told the Journal. ?I?m not saying that is going to happen. All I can do is pray and hope that one day I hit the lottery or something. Just to have them together with me.?

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Where there's life, there's hope - from NJ.com:

A family friend of the man shot in the face outside a New Year?s Eve party in Jersey City told The Jersey Journal that the man has undergone two surgeries today and is expected to survive his injuries.

The friend, who asked not to identified, said he does not know if the bullet was removed, but the shooting victim is doing well and he even attempted to get out of his hospital bed this evening. There is a concern that the man will lose sight in one eye, however.

More - NJ.com

one report says bludgeoned, the other says shot - so there's 2 fatalities? or was it misreported and there's only one homicide?

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Jose has schizophrenia and is bipolar.

Tragic and I surmise the offender had the same / similar mental health issue or it could be that poor Jose's behavior might have been the 'trigger' for his demise.

When you have high density, little privacy shelters catering to the socially and/or mentally inept one can understand how explosive that environment can be - I hope the workers and volunteers there don't feel guilty as if they haven't done everything to mitigate such problems.

Most likely another individual suffering from a mental health issue that was too poor to pay for medical help or lacked any understanding that they were suffering from a mental illness - I have no doubt that people were aware that this person (in his lifetime) had a problem but our social health system ignored him due to his financial circumstances.

This guy will now be thrown into the only health care available to him at the cost of his victims ... the prison system!

This is a separate homicide from the shooting?

"Jose Rodriguez, 51, originally of Newark, was found dead in a room at the residence by his roommate and investigators found he had been struck about the head with an object"

I hope the victim wasn't Hansel or Gretel aka Paco and Taco. I think they live @ Saint Lucy's.

PQuote:

Per the police chatter this morning, one had been shot in the head and had brain matter coming out in the Virginia ave incident and would either pass away or be on machine assisted living for the rest of their life.

FOUR shooting events (that we know about) and it's only January 1st.

1. Virginia Ave - 3 people shot
2. Brahmall Ave - bullet enters family home while they watch TV
3. Atlantic Ave & Bergen Ave shots fired
3. St. Lucy's - 1 fatality

Greenville - the JJ is reporting that the three shooting victims from the Virginia Ave incident are all alive. Do you know differently?

A tragedy all around.

"Jersey City Medical Center EMS reporting confirmed one person shot near or at the Homeless Shelter of St Lucy?s in Jersey City. Dead on arrival, according to Police Chatter. Jersey City Police Department has been requested to the scene."
http://www.hudsoncountytv.com/fatal-s ... s-shelter-in-jersey-city/

Not a good way to start the year. It looks like we already 2 homicides on the first day of 2015.