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The weekly event was winding down on Saturday, April 2 when another vendor spotted the three men huddled near a truck in the parking lot of MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.
“They had to be 6-5, 6-6,” he said. “They were all wearin’ hoodies and black COVID masks.”
“I’m not going to wait,” the vendor said he overheard one of them say. “I’m going to beat that [expletive] down right now.”
Whatever the particular issue was, they didn't say. It all happened quickly after that, the merchant said.
The assailants found their target visiting another vendor and began pummeling him with small aluminum bats, one witness said.
The victim was on the ground, where he continued “getting kicked in the head, in his sides, on his legs” while stubbornly insisting on getting up, the witness said.
“People were yelling at him to stay down,” he said, “but he wouldn’t.”
Two assailants then grabbed large vases from the victim’s friend’s table, he said.
“One guy smashed a vase on his head and the other one on his chest,” the witness said. “Then they kicked him for good measure before running down the aisle.
“I honestly thought he was dead.”
People got out of the way as the trio headed to the victim’s brand-new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van and broke the windows, witnesses said. They then got into a car parked nearby and headed out of the complex onto westbound Route 3.
Identifying them won’t be easy: The trio had apparently covered both license plates of their vehicle with black tape.
State Police nonetheless are pursuing leads, NJSP Sgt. Philip Curry said.
The victim was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center with injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening, the sergeant said Monday.
“At least one of his arms is definitely broken,” said the person who’d heard the trio talking before the attack.
Another vendor tried talking to the victim after the assailants fled. He asked him whether he knew where he was.
“I’m home,” the beaten victim said. “I gotta get up. I gotta go to work.”
Asked what day it was, he said Monday.
The other vendor urged him to stay down and wait for an EMS unit.
Anyone who might have witnessed the attack, saw which way the assailants ultimately fled or has any information that could help identify them is asked to contact New Jersey State Police: (609) 882-2000.
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