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Sgt. James Dalton, a 12-year department veteran, and Officer Franklin Bay were the first on the scene after a call came in around 1 a.m. today of a man with a gun in the housing projects on Newman Street and Railroad Avenue, Mordaga said.
Seeing the officers, the suspect — later identified as 22-year-old Leonardis — took off on foot, the director said.
“Shots were fired as Leonardis continued on foot west on Russell Place, and then south on First Street,” Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said.
Leonardis was turning the corner of Newman Street, heading up Russell Place, when Officer Joseph Ayoubi roared up in his squad car.
- YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Four Hackensack police officers were involved in a shootout overnight with a suspect who was struck by gunfire and remains in critical condition this morning at Hackensack University Medical Center. READ MORE ….
Leonardis “immediately opened fire on the officer’s vehicle,” Mordaga told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “One bullet hit the hood and the other went through the front windshield, missing the officer by inches.”
Ayoubi, an eight-year department veteran, “thought he was shot after glass from the windshield hit his face,” he said. “He saw the muzzle flash and then felt numbness in his face.”
Ayoubi hit the brakes and his car was struck from behind by another police vehicle driven by , driven by Officer Brett McCarthy.
Both officers joined in what after that was a brief foot pursuit: Leonardis was struck several times and fell at the corner of First and Sussex streets, Molinelli said.
A .45-caliber handgun that police said he used was found nearby, the prosecutor said.
Leonardis — a self-described Bloods gang member who, at 22, already has an extensive criminal history — underwent emergency surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center and was listed in critical condition this morning, Mordaga said.
Ayoubi was OK, he said.
However, McCarthy fell during the chase and scraped skin off one of his forearms. “His leg and other forearm were scraped, as well,” Mordaga said
All four officers were released from the hospital after being seen by doctors, he said.
“They did a heck of a job,” Mordaga told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.”Two of the officers, Bay and McCarthy, each have 2½ years on the job. Sgt. Dalton and Ayoubi are veterans and two of the best we have.
“Having Sgt. Dalton there meant a great deal,” the director added. “He’s a top-notch supervisor. The fact that all four of them have out there aggressively doing police work together played a big role in how they handled it.
“They did an excellent job. They did everything they were supposed to do,” Mordaga said. “I’m just glad that they’re OK.”
Attempted murder charges were being prepared against Leonardis, who was out on bail after being indicted by a Bergen County grand jury on attempted murder charges in March after police said he stabbed a Ridgefield man who broke into his home carrying a tire iron last year in a fight over the intruder’s wife.
Authorities said Marcel Alcala forced his way into Leonardis’s apartment brandishing the tire iron on April 28, 2012 and was disarmed by Leonardis’s brother — after which Robert Leonardis then “stabbed [Alcala] in the abdominal area,” a law enforcement source told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Hackensack police dispatched to the Shafer Place building — on the fourth floor of a five-story building — said they found Alcala bleeding from at least three stab wounds. He was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery.
Also last year, Leonardis was convicted of assault and weapons possession from an incident weeks before the stabbing, records show.
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