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Detectives Yamil Pimienta, John Rickowich, Muhammed Dombayci and Levis Qirjako were on a detail aimed at reducing guns and violent crime in city neighborhoods when they spotted Jose Cardenas acting suspiciously in the area of Carroll Street and 12th Avenue shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said.
As they exited their vehicle, Cardenas ducked into a neighborhood grocery store, Speziale said.
The detectives found him in an employee area carrying a 9mm Springfield Firearms semi-automatic handgun with a high-capacity magazine and a defaced serial number, the director said.
The unit's second gun arrest of the weekend came shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday, when the same four detectives stopped a Nissan SUV near the corner of Rosa Parks Boulevard and Lafayette Street, Speziale said.
They arrested the driver, Altamir Smith, after finding a .40-caliber Glock semi-automatic in the vehicle and also released an innocent passenger, he said.
The firearms were the 15th and 16th recovered by Special Investigations Unit detectives since April 1, the director said. Both guns were being sent to New Jersey State Police for ballistics testing to determine whether they may have been fired in documented incidents, he said.
Each teen, meanwhile, was sent to the Passaic County Jail to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Paterson.
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