45°
******
ORIGINAL STORY: Authorities upgraded charges to attempted murder against a 37-year-old Garfield business owner who shot a car burglar in the back before dawn Tuesday.
Omar Smadiya was carrying a Glock 19 Gen 4 handgun when he found 19-year-old Christoph Manon-Velez going through Toyota Camry car outside his Farnham Avenue home around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, authorities said.
Manon-Velez ran and Smadiya fired three times, hitting him in the back, records show. The bullet came out his chest.
The fleeing Manon-Velez made it to a McDonald’s several blocks away on Passaic Street, where responders said they found him after being alerted by an employee.
Smadiya, who owns and operates a moving and storage company, was also charged with possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes (meaning: the gun is legal, but the use of it wasn't) and illegal possession of high-capacity magazines.
(He originally was charged with those two counts, plus one of committing what he knew to be a criminal act.)
He remained held Wednesday in the Bergen County Jail.
Manon-Velez, meanwhile, remained under police guard at Hackensack University Medical Center for a gunshot wound that authorities said wasn't life-threatening.
He was in serious but stable condition, they said.
Manon-Velez, who was charged with burglary, confessed to other area vehicle break-ins, authorities said.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Pascack Valley and receive free news updates.
