Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office

                                 25 Kirkpatrick Street, 3rd Floor, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901 (732) 745-3300

 

                                *News Release*         Date: September 30, 2010

 
 

 

 


New Brunswick man charged with fatal stabbing

 

 

 

          Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan and New Brunswick Police Director Peter Mangarella today announced that a city resident has been charged with fatally stabbing a 14-year-old male last weekend.

 

          Carlos Lara (DOB 8/26/91) of New Brunswick, was charged on September 29, 2010 with murder, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose in the death of Alex Gombas, 14, of the Somerset section of Franklin Township.

 

          Lara is being held in lieu of $1.15 million bail at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick.

 

          An intensive investigation by Detective Mark Pappas of the New Brunswick Police Department and Investigator Michael Daniewicz of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office determined that Lara repeatedly stabbed Gombas on September 25, 2010.

 

          An autopsy performed by the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office showed Alex Gombas was the victim of a homicide and died as the result of multiple stab wounds.

 

Alex Gombas was a freshman at New Brunswick High School.

 

He was pronounced dead at on September 25, 2010 at 2:24 p.m. at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. His companion, a 17-year-old male, also was stabbed. The 17 year old was treated and released on September 26, 2010. The companion’s name is being withheld.

 

The investigation began when police were dispatched to the corner of Jersey Avenue and Delavan Street in New Brunswick after receiving a 911 call at 3:52 a.m. on September 25, 2010.

 

Police arrived to find the teenagers had been stabbed. They were taken to the city hospital.

 

Hours after the stabbings, Lara was arrested and held by New Brunswick police on an unrelated weapons possession offense. He later was charged with the aggravated assault of Alex Gombas, and the charge was upgraded on September 29, 2010 to murder.

 

The investigation is continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Pappas of the New Brunswick Police Department at (732) 745-5217, or Investigator Daniewicz of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745-4018.

 

As is the case with all criminal defendants, the charges against Lara are merely accusations and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.