Overview

• Two teenage girls riding bicycles or e-bikes were struck around 5:30 p.m. Monday on Burnside Avenue and later died at local hospitals, according to officials.
• The SUV left the scene and was found a short distance away with a bicycle embedded in the hood; the suspected driver was located and taken into custody, with no charges announced.
• The Union County Prosecutor’s Office is leading a homicide investigation and has asked residents to review footage for a 2021 black Jeep Compass with tinted windows.
• Friends, neighbors and the mayor say the victims were 17-year-old Cranford High School students known as Maria and Isabela, and the district has provided counseling.
• Some neighbors allege the suspect, reported to be 17, had been stalking one victim for months, a claim authorities have not confirmed.