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Arrest Made in New Jersey School Bus Rock Attack That Fractured 8-Year-Old’s Skull

Investigators link the 40-year-old to other rock-throwing cases and continue to examine motive.

Overview

  • New Jersey State Police arrested Hernando Garciamorales, 40, of Palisades Park, locating him at a self-made campsite in a Bergen County park after a two-day search.
  • Garciamorales is 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, and he is being held in the Bergen County jail pending a hearing.
  • Authorities say he is tied to multiple rock-throwing incidents in the county, including cases reported in Bogota Borough.
  • The Jan. 7 incident occurred just after 2 p.m. near Exit 70A/B on the northbound New Jersey Turnpike as a bus returned third-graders to Yeshivat Noam from Liberty Science Center; a baseball-sized rock shattered a window and struck a student who later underwent surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center and was reported stable.
  • Officials say the bus had no markings identifying it as a Jewish school bus and the motive remains unknown; state police are leading the probe with county and local partners, and Teaneck’s mayor and deputy mayor offered a $5,000 reward for tips.