Union Resident Accused of Killing Elderly Man, Robbing 2 Others in Newark

A 22-year-old Union Township man has been accused of beating and stabbing an elderly man to death and injuring two others in a separate incident last week in a Newark apartment building, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office said.

Rashid Davis has been charged with murder, felony murder, burglary, robbery, possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

Davis had a loaded firearm when he was arrested Wednesday in Irvington, the prosecutor's office said.

Davis is accused of killing Leonard Pearson, 83, whose body was found by family members late Saturday evening in his 15th floor Nevada Street apartment, the prosecutor's office said.

Davis is also accused of a separate robbery that occurred last Thursday on the 19th floor of the same building, the prosecutor's office said. Two people were injured and hospitalized in that incident, the prosecutor's office said.

Davis does not have relatives living in the building and is believed to have acted alone in each of the incidents, which occurred between Tuesday and Thursday of last week, the prosecutor's office said.

A welfare check of all other tenants in the building revealed there were no other victims, the prosecutor's office said.

Davis has been remanded to the Essex County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.