Social Worker Killed in Camden

A Camden woman refused to give up living in her crime-ridden neighborhood, and now it has led to her death.

Elsa Olah was a bilingual social worker with a master's degree. She had a reputation for being a pillar of the community, where she helped neighbors who were less fortunate.

On Feb. 28, she became a victim of gun violence when she was in the wrong place at the wrong time in front of her own home.

Abismael Arroyo, 18, has been charged with Olah's killing. The two lived about six houses apart on the same block in Camden.

"I just looked at his face. He didn't even look at me," said Paul Olah, the victim's son.

Witnesses said Arroyo left the house with a gun and started shooting at people in a car and on the street. As the car sped away, Arroyo kept shooting.

"There was kids out here playing, everybody was out," said one neighbor.

At the time Arroyo was allegedly shooting, Elsa Olah had just returned from shopping. She got out of her car and one of the bullets hit her in her side.

"I'm in the house with my son. We were talking. That's when I heard the shots and my wife screamed, 'Your mother's laying on the ground,'" Paul Olah said.

Olah rushed his mother to a hospital where she died Monday.

"She did a lot of community involvement and addiction services. She had a lot of care for people in general," Paul Olah said.

Elsa worked with the Department of State and Senior Services. Her children tried to convince her to move out of Camden, but she told them she liked the people and saw the good in people.

"She didn't see the bad, you know. If someone did something to her, she didn't se them as a bad person, they just did something bad. They're good people, they'll change," Paul Olah remembered.

Arroyo was being held in jail Tuesday night on $350,000 cash bail. If the grand jury hands down an indictment and Arroyo is convicted of murder, he could face 30 to 63 years in jail.

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