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Uniformed officers and Detectives Yamil Pimienta and Mohammad Bashir approached 15 or so people drinking and playing loud music near several double-parked vehicles on Lawrence Street outside Montgomery Park shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday, Police Director Jerry Speziale said.
A man in the crowd identified as city resident Rodney Alston, 25, turned away from the detectives and stuffed what turned out to be a 9mm SCCY handgun in the front pocket of his hoodie, Speziale said.
Alston was arrested and sent to the Passaic County Jail to await a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court on weapons charges.
It was a little over an hour earlier when Detectives William Hermann and Mustafa Dombayci responded to a call of someone carrying a gun in the area of 16th Avenue and East 18th Street.
The officers, along with Officer James Iandoli of the Emergency Response Team, didn't find a suspect, Speziale said, but they did discover a duffle bag with a loaded 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun inside.
Its serial number had been scraped off, he said.
An investigation was continuing.
Both weapons, meanwhile, were sent to the New Jersey State Police Ballistics Laboratory for further examination, Speziale said.
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