A lasting tribute is planned for the three Newark college students who were gunned down over the summer.

A memorial garden will be built in honor of DaShon Harvey, Iofemi Hightower and Terrance Aerial. The garden will be located at Ivy Hill Park on Mount Vernon Place. The park is located across the street from the school where the shootings occurred. The memorial will include a tribute written in stone to each of the victims and another for the only survivor, Natasha Aerial.

Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo says he received approval from each of the victim?s families before the memorial was designed. The park will cost nearly $350,000 to construct, though the design work was donated. The memorial is scheduled to be dedicated April 1.

The students were shot execution-style behind Mount Vernon Elementary School. The prosecutor expects a ruling within a month on whether the three juveniles charged in the shootings will be tried as adults. Three others, 28-year-old Jose Carranza, 24-year-old Rodolfo Godinez and 18-year-old Melvin Jovel, were also arrested in connection with the shootings.

So far, there is no motive for the killings.

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