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A SWAT team led a raid that ended a brief standoff at an Essex Street apartment in Paterson with Memphis Morales on Friday, Jan. 12, they said.
Morales was previously convicted of a 2020 shooting and was incarcerated for three years before being released from New Jersey State Prison last May.
Three months later, Morales shot a 34-year-old Secaucus man during a Sept. 17 robbery near the corner of Market and Pennington Street, authorities charged.
Morales was wanted on a fugitive warrant from that incident when a 28-year-old city man was shot and wounded on Arch Street near Garfield Avenue this past Thursday.
Morales had apparently just been jilted by the man’s sister and vowed revenge, according to a criminal complaint filed by Paterson police (continued below).
Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Department Officer-In- Charge Isa Abbassi said they got valuable assistance in tracking down and capturing Morales from:
- the New Jersey State Police Fugitive and K-9 North units;
- the United States Marshal’s Service New York/ New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force;
- the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tabacco, Firearms, and Explosives;
- The Passaic County SWAT team.
Morales is charged with two counts of attempted murder, robbery, several weapons offenses – including possessing a firearm as a convicted felon – as well as making terroristic threats and burglary, in connection with the shootings.
But that’s not all.
Authorities also charged him with using a gun with a high-capacity magazine and hollow-point bullets in a domestic violent incident last Nov. 5.
New Jersey’s bail reform law doesn’t apply under the circumstances -- meaning Morales will remain jailed until the charges are resolved.
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