NEWARK — It didn't take long for Newark to record its first homicide of 2012. Authorities said a 45-year-old man died hours after being shot at 1 a.m. today.

"Nwk’s 1st murder victim of 2012 just died in hospital," Mayor Cory Booker tweeted of the shooting. "May his death affirm that we can’t just hope or pray 4 peace, we all must work 4 it."

Kenneth McLean was shot in the 700 block of Clinton Avenue in the city’s South Ward, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray and Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio said in a joint statement. McLean, of Newark, was taken to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:25 a.m.

No arrests have been made, and authorities did not offer a motive for the slaying today.

A young woman who declined to be identified because she feared retaliation from a shooter who was still on the loose said the victim told police he had been robbed. She said she was at home on South 15th Street, just off the corner of Clinton Avenue, when she heard voices and then at least two shots. After diving to the floor, she said she eventually went out to see what had happened and saw the victim lying on the sidewalk with what appeared to be two bullet wounds in his lower midsection, attended by officers.

"The police were asking him questions but he said he couldn’t breathe," she said. "The only thing I heard was him mumbling, ‘I got robbed.’ "

This morning’s shooting got Newark off to an all-too-fast start on this year’s homicide tally after a marked decline in the murder rate during the last seven months of last year. The city’s total of 91 killings last year was 5 more than in 2010, but the figure was skewed by a 50 percent increase in homicides during the first five months of the year, just after the city had laid off 167 police officers.

The Newark slaying followed at least one other New Year’s Day homicide in New Jersey in Atlantic City, though details were not available.

"It’s unfortunate that the city had its first homicide following a trend of shootings in some of our urban cities during the night and a homicide in Atlantic City," DeMaio said in a statement. "The Newark Police Department will make every effort with our state, federal and county partners to make 2012 a safer year."

Neighbors around the intersection of Clinton Avenue and South 15th Street described McLean as friendly and not the type likely to be caught up in violence.

"Great guy, good disposition," said Eddie Butler, 29, who knew McLean simply as "K." "Some people, you expect it. He wasn’t somebody you would expect."

Butler and others said McLean had a grown son and shared an apartment with his wife in the red brick building on the corner where he was shot.

"I’m happy I wasn’t here because it could have been me," said LaMar Price, 20, who lives in the building but was out celebrating when the shooting occurred. "Not a good way to start the new year."

Staff writer James Queally contributed to this report.

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