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Little Ferry PD: Driver Caught With Gun Blames Philadelphia Unrest

An Elizabeth driver caught with a gun following a traffic stop told Little Ferry police it was because he’d been to Philadelphia and was “worried about what was currently happening there,” authorities said.

Amsell Osorio-Fuentes

Amsell Osorio-Fuentes

Photo Credit: LITTLE FERRY PD

Amsell Osorio-Fuentes, 23, remained held in the Bergen County Jail following his arrest on drug and weapons charges shortly after 2:30 a.m. Thursday, records show.

It began when Sgt. John Andronaco spotted a 2012 Ford Focus with heavily tinted windows and an expired temporary registration in the parking lot of the 7-Eleven at the corner of Main and Liberty streets, Police Chief James Walters said.

Andronaco stopped the car after Osorio-Fuentes made an illegal left out of the parking lot, the chief said.

Osorio-Fuentes “appeared overly nervous,” Walters said, adding that his hands were shaking and he was breathing heavily.

The sergeant smelled raw pot from inside the car as Osorio-Fuentes gave him a temporary registration card that didn’t produce a computer match, the chief said.

The jittery Osorio-Fuentes told Andronaco and backup Officer Michael Lee that he was “just tired and returning from work,” Walters said.

Asked three times whether he had a weapon in the car, Osorio-Fuentes repeatedly said no before admitting that he had a gun behind the passenger seat because “he had been in Philadelphia and was worried about what was currently happening there,” the chief said.

Philadelphia has endured a week of unrest following the shooting death of a city man who authorities said came at police with a knife. ATMs and subway kiosks have been blown up, looting has spread and a van was discovered with explosives inside.

Osorio-Fuentes consented to a search of his car that Walters said turned up a 9mm Glock 48 with a fully loaded magazine in a holster behind the front passenger seat, along with some pot.

He was arrested, processed and sent to the county lockup to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.

Brookside Towing removed and impounded the vehicle.

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