Bullets were fired into the home of a "high-risk" sex offender whose neighbors recently were notified under Megan's Law that he was living among them.
The man wasn't wounded when about five shots were fired through a downstairs window of his house early Tuesday.Attorney General Peter Verniero said it was the first attack of its kind since implementation of the law intended to alert neighborhoods to the presence of potentially dangerous sex offenders.
Authorities did not release the offender's name and wouldn't comment on the investigation except to confirm the attack was related to his status as a sex offender. They said he had spent a "substantial period of time" in jail.
Neighbors in Linden, south of Newark, were notified earlier this month that a sex offender was living in the area.
Megan's Law, which took effect in 1995, is named after 7-year-old Megan Kanka, who was raped and murdered in 1994 by a convicted sex offender who lived across the street from her.
The law calls for notice to schools, day-care centers and youth groups about moderate-risk offenders. For high-risk offenders, the law requires police to go door-to-door notifying residents.
Verniero said he still supports Megan's Law and that the state must crack down on those who use it to take the law into their own hands.