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Several people in a large group that had gathered on Palisade Place on June 4 were pelting police with rocks and other items when shots were fired on nearby Mattlage Place.
No one was wounded by the half-dozen or so rounds fired, although two vehicles were struck, Deputy Police Chief Gregory Halstead said.
Two defendants were captured through “meticulous police work, community cooperation and extremely hard work by our Detective Bureau,” Halstead said.
John T. Wright, 27, and Chris Anderson, 21, remained held Tuesday in the Bergen County Jail, charged with attempted murder and weapons charges, as well as hindering their own arrests, after a judge refused to release them.
Wright also is charged with aggravated assault.
Anderson – who previously was freed after being arrested in Tenafly on robbery, aggravated assault and weapons charges – is also charged with obstruction in the Englewood shooting.
City police responding to a disturbance call that night found about 60 people standing in the middle of the street on Palisade Place. Dozens of them began throwing rocks and other objects at the officers.
Nearly 80 police from several other towns converged on the city – among them, officers from Hackensack, Cliffside Park, Fort Lee and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office -- but things eventually calmed down.
No arrests were made, and the crowd eventually began to disperse.
That’s when a shots-fired report came from Mattlage Place.
“Officers responded and encountered another smaller group, which may have splintered off the group which we initially responded to,” Halstead said.
The shooters were gone, and city detectives immediately began investigating.
“A significant amount of investigative information was derived from RING NEIGHBORS, which, since its inception has proven to be a great investigative tool for this department,” the deputy chief said Tuesday.
Halstead also praised the work of the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification, which collected and processed evidence.
“It was a difficult and daunting task,” Halstead said, “but we all worked tirelessly together to get it done.”
It’s not over, either.
At least one more arrest and additional charges were expected in what the deputy chief called an “active and fluid investigation.”
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