Terrifying bear encounter for NJ mom and daughter

Here are the top New Jersey news stories for Tuesday:

⬛ How much are kids paid to steal cars?

Canva/Townsquare Media illustration

Stealing cars has become big business in New Jersey. Criminal enterprises are hiring juveniles and paying them very well.

According to law enforcement sources in the Garden State, juveniles can make far more money stealing high-end vehicles than dealing drugs.

The money involved in vehicle thefts is a main reason there has been an uptick in home invasion robberies involving vehicle key fobs.

⬛ Powerball jackpot won by ticket sold in New Jersey

NJ Lottery Powerball sign (Dan Alexander, Townsquare Media/Canva)

New Jersey had its first Powerball jackpot winner of the year in Monday night's drawing.

One ticket won the jackpot with an estimated value of $223 million ($104 million cash). The winning numbers were 3-10-33-58-59 and Power Ball 9. The New Jersey Lottery has not disclosed where the winning ticket was sold.

⬛ Prayers, funds roll in after NJ girl killed by racket

Lucy Morgan (newcreationliving.com)/Canva illustration

An online fundraiser for the family of a 6-year-old who died in a bizarre accident while on vacation has already gathered more than 1,400 donations.

Locals and out-of-staters are expressing their support for the family from Sussex County, and they're backing it up with donations that have amounted to more than $125,000 by Monday afternoon.

Lucy Morgan was enjoying the last full day of a family vacation on June 1 in Maine when playtime with her siblings turned deadly.

⬛ Woman hurt after grenade explodes in Hightstown

Response to a grenade at a Hightstown apartment 6/10/24 (MidJersey.news)

HIGHTSTOWN — The State Police bomb squad was called to an apartment complex Monday morning after a practice grenade exploded, leaving a woman with a stomach injury.

Hightstown police Lt. Benjamin L. Miller said a 39-year-old resident of the Deerfield/Westerlea Arms Apartment complex on Westerlea Avenue made her way to the rental office with severe stomach pain around 11:40 a.m. After being treated on site, the woman was taken to Capital Health-Fuld Campus in Trenton with non-life-threatening injuries.

⬛ Massive Atlantic City, NJ brawl — 8 females arrested, police say

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

ATLANTIC CITY — Twice on the same day, police officers in Atlantic County arrested women and girls accused of being involved in massive brawls.

Four women and four juvenile girls were arrested in connection to one brawl in Atlantic City around 8:20 p.m. last Wednesday.

Police were called to the 400 block of N. Delaware Ave. in response to a group fight. Most of the people involved in the melee were women.

⬛ Bear has to be shot in NJ park after scary encounter with child

Canva/Townsquare Media illustration

An aggressive bear was shot and killed in South Mountain Reservation late Monday morning, according to the Essex County Sheriff’s Office.

Around 11:22 a.m., a mother called Sheriff’s Office dispatch for help, saying she and her young daughter had been “trapped by a bear in the area of Locust Grove and could not exit.”