Authorities have arrested a suspect in connection with a rock-throwing incident on the New Jersey Turnpike that left a third-grade Jewish girl seriously injured earlier this week.

State police said Hernando Garciamorales, 40, of Palisades Park, was arrested following an investigation into an incident on the northbound lanes of the Turnpike, just before Exit 70 A/B in Bergen County. Garciamorales was located at a self-made campsite in Old Croaker County Park, authorities said.

The arrest was carried out by the New Jersey State Police Target Hardening Unit UAS Response Squad, with assistance from the Troop “D” Criminal Investigation Office, the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office, the Bogota Police Department, and the Teaneck Police Department.

Investigators said the probe also linked Garciamorales to multiple rock-throwing incidents in Bogota Borough.

The Turnpike incident occurred as two school buses were returning from a class trip to the Liberty Science Center. While traveling between Challenger Road and Degraw Avenue, a baseball-sized rock was thrown at a Paramus-bound bus, striking a third-grade girl in the head.

The child suffered a skull injury and was transported to Hackensack University Medical Center by the Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Responders from Bergen County Hatzolah also assisted at the scene.

Her name for Tehillim גילה ברכה בת מיכל אילנה.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, community and municipal leaders held a coordinated call to address the incident and support the affected families, while working closely with law enforcement and government officials. A joint investigation was initially conducted by the Teaneck Police Department and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, with authorities at the time asking the public for information.

Garciamorales has been charged with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal mischief, resisting arrest by flight, and hindering. He was lodged in the Bergen County Jail pending a detention hearing.
Officials said no additional information is available at this time.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)

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