It was shortly before 2:30 a.m. Sunday, May 21, when police responding to a shooting on River Street near East 13th Street found a mortally wounded 22-year-old city man.
He was pronounced dead a short time later at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center, according to a statement issued by Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Officer In Charge Isa Abbassi.
Two other city men who were wounded in the shooting – one 24, the other 33 – arrived at St. Joe’s in private vehicles, they said.
There was no word on their conditions. Nor did Valdes and Abbassi say whether any suspects had been seized or identified.
Police found a gun in one of the vehicles, according to responders.
Authorities were investigating that shooting when a call came in around 8:30 a.m. of a suspicious vehicle near the corner of 18th Avenue and East 28th Street, roughly two miles south of the earlier shooting.
Inside a late-model Honda Accord was the body of a 33-year-old city man with a bullet in his head, authorities said.
An ALS unit pronounced him at the scene.
“The death is being treated as a homicide,” Valdes and Abbassi said.
The victims’ names hadn’t yet been revealed as of late Monday afternoon. Valdes and Abbassi didn't say whether any suspects had been arrested or identified in this shooting, either.
That makes five homicides in Paterson so far this year – half the number at this same point in 2022.
It also boosted the number of shooting incidents in 2023 to 29, compared with 34 at this time last year.
Kyle Mazza/UNF News took photos at both crime scenes and contributed to this report.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Northern Valley and receive free news updates.