A daytime shooting spree at a housing complex in Newark’s central ward left residents rattled this afternoon. At least four people were shot–leaving two critically wounded. Read the full story after the jump!!

Wendy L.

(NJ.com)–Glenn Davis was getting ready to meet his daughters for lunch today when he heard the burst of gunfire.

He peered out his apartment window and saw a man dive for cover in the bushes, then heard more gunshots as if they came from an automatic weapon. The bullets ripped through the brick face buildings and shattered the windows outside the Kemsco Village public housing complex in Newark’s Central Ward. A trail of blood seemed to trace the path of the firefight to behind his apartment.

It had all the markings of a clash over turf and drugs, with bullets sprayed recklessly in broad daylight on a warm afternoon as children played nearby.

When it was over, at least four people had been shot — two critically — in what authorities are calling a targeted shooting. No arrests have been made.

The violence came less than two months after police reported a summer-long drop in the city’s homicide rate, though gun violence has risen citywide over the past year.

Hours after the 1 p.m. shooting, Davis stood a few feet from a puddle of blood, amid a flurry of police activity. He counted himself lucky to be alive.

“If it had been another 30, 45 minutes, I would have been right in the middle of this,” the 50-year-old lifelong Newark resident said.

The victims, who range in age from 17 to 27, were taken to University Hospital, police officials said.

A police spokesman originally said six people had been shot, but the number was later amended to at “least four people.”

Police Director Samuel DeMaio said in a statement that there are indications the shooting may be drug-related, but “we cannot say for sure pending the outcome of our investigation.”

In addition, the statement said, police “have neither identified the suspects nor a solid motive for this shooting at this time.” The condition of the victims was also not known, according to the release.

But two sources with knowledge of the investigation said the shooting was targeted and that two of the victims were in critical condition. The officials did not want to be named because they are not authorized to talk publicly about it.

Around the townhouse-style complex, residents said the gunshots sent them racing for shelter on what had been a calm, quiet summerlike afternoon.

One woman said she had been reading the Bible outside when she heard a “boom, boom, boom, like 10 shots. And then I grabbed everything from my lap and ran in the house,” she said, refusing to give her name for fear of retaliation.

Jean McNair, 63, said she had just sat down to eat lunch. A moment later, she said, she heard “like 10 or 13 shots, one after another.” When she looked outside into the grassy courtyard, a “boy” was slumped next to steps leading to another apartment. “He had his hand on his head and his legs were kicking,” she said.

McNair, a 17-year resident of the complex, said the complex had been safe but residents had been rattled by a shooting in June on Stone Street that left two people injured. She wants management to install surveillance cameras for the area. “All of a sudden in the last couple months it has got crazy,” she said. “This is like a massacre.”

Central Ward Councilman Darrin Sharif said he intends to request a stronger police presence at Kemsco Village and wants to organize a public safety meeting later this week. “They just know now they can’t come out of the house now,” Sharif said of residents.

For McNair, that fear is all too real.

“The whole safety of this complex has been violated,” she said.