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Andre Sayegh

Worshippers Seize Attacker Who Stabbed Imam During Prayer Service At Paterson Mosque (w/VIDEO) Worshippers Seize Attacker Who Stabbed Imam During Prayer Service At Paterson Mosque (w/VIDEO)
Worshippers Seize Attacker Who Stabbed Imam During Prayer Service At Paterson Mosque (w/Video) Sayed Elnakib was leading an early morning prayer service at the Omar Mosque in Paterson on Sunday when a man among the worshippers suddenly rushed forward and stabbed the beloved imam, surveillance video shows. The assailant, 32-year-old Serif Zorba, turned and bolted for the door, but the worshippers -- without regard for their own safety -- quickly converged on the assailant and held him for police. Elnakib, 65, sustained liver damage, a mosque spokesperson said, but he was expected to survive after being rushed into surgery at nearby St. Joseph's University Medical Center following the…
MOSQUE ATTACK: Prayer Leader Stabbed, Suspect Seized In Paterson MOSQUE ATTACK: Prayer Leader Stabbed, Suspect Seized In Paterson
Mosque Attack: Prayer Leader Stabbed, Suspect Seized In Paterson Sayed Elnakib was leading an early morning prayer service at the Omar Mosque in Paterson on Sunday when a man among the worshippers suddenly rushed forward and stabbed the beloved imam, surveillance video shows. The assailant, 32-year-old Serif Zorba, turned and bolted for the door, but the worshippers -- without regard for their own safety -- quickly converged on the assailant and held him for police. Elnakib, 65, sustained liver damage, a mosque spokesperson said, but he was expected to survive after being rushed into surgery at nearby St. Joseph's University Medical Center following the…
NJ Attorney General To Take Over Paterson Police Operations, Live Stream Link Here NJ Attorney General To Take Over Paterson Police Operations, Live Stream Link Here
NJ Attorney General To Take Over Paterson Police Operations, Live Stream Link Here “There is no safety without trust,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in announcing a state takeover of the day-to-day operations of the Paterson Police Department and plans to include mental health professionals in responses to barricaded individuals there and statewide. Experience has shown that both moves are absolutely necessary at the moment, the state’s top law enforcement officer said. “There is a crisis of confidence in law enforcement in this city,” Platkin said, speaking outside the Frank X. Graves Jr. Public Safety Complex on Broadway on March 27. “Under these ci…
3 Paterson Officers Used 'Less Lethal Force' Before Two Shot Non-Violence Activist, AG Says 3 Paterson Officers Used 'Less Lethal Force' Before Two Shot Non-Violence Activist, AG Says
3 Paterson Officers Used 'Less Lethal Force' Before Two Shot Non-Violence Activist, AG Says UPDATE: Three Paterson police officers first employed “less lethal force” before two others shot and killed a local non-violence activist who was in the middle of a mental health crisis last week, the state’s top law enforcement official said Wednesday. Tensions were rising in the city as New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin formally identified Najee Seabrooks, who was killed during the nearly five-hour confrontation at his home last Friday, and the officers who were directly involved in a release on Wednesday. Mayor Andre Sayegh, who has been criticized by community leaders for …
Metal Detection Begins At Paterson High Schools After Seizure Of 3 Guns, Four Teens Metal Detection Begins At Paterson High Schools After Seizure Of 3 Guns, Four Teens
Metal Detection Begins At Paterson High Schools After Seizure Of 3 Guns, Four Teens Officials began screening students entering John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson following an incident late last week in which a trio of loaded guns were seized and the armed teens taken into custody. The hand-held metal-detecting wandings will continue indefinitely at all city high schools, Paterson Schools Supt. Eileen F. Shafer announced on Monday, Dec. 19. Additional city police officers will also patrol the grounds, she said. “The safety of our students and staff is our top priority, and we are working to make sure that no one is able to bring an unauthorized weapon onto school pro…
MASS CASUALTY: Engines Collide Headed To Paterson Fire, Critical Injuries Reported MASS CASUALTY: Engines Collide Headed To Paterson Fire, Critical Injuries Reported
Mass Casualty: Engines Collide Headed To Paterson Fire, Critical Injuries Reported WATCH: A social media video shows a collision of two Paterson fire engines that sent eight of the Silk City's bravest to the hospital. CLICK HERE: Viral Video Shows Paterson Fire Trucks Colliding ****** ORIGINAL STORY: Several Paterson firefighters were hospitalized in a crash of engines that sent one into a building and the other into a tree. Both vehicles were headed to a fire at a furniture store on Main Street when they collided at the corner of Broadway and Straight Street around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10. One engine smashed into the front of a corner supermarket, while the othe…
Dealer Who Produced Deadly Opioids In Basement Across From Paterson Mayor's Home Gets 10 Years Dealer Who Produced Deadly Opioids In Basement Across From Paterson Mayor's Home Gets 10 Years
Dealer Who Produced Deadly Opioids In Basement Across From Paterson Mayor's Home Gets 10 Years A dealer who produced lethal opioids in a fortified basement drug mill across the street from the mayor of Paterson's house was sentenced to 10 years in state prison, authorities said. Silk City police had seized 17,000 folds of heroin and fentanyl -- as well as packaging and distribution materials -- while arresting Rafael “Chiquito” Brito and his girlfriend, Rosanny Prado, during a March 2020 raid on their East 36th Street residence across from Mayor Andre Sayegh's home. The drugs were linked to at least 10 overdose deaths of both local and suburban buyers, authorities said at the time. …
Services Scheduled For Paterson Man Shot, Killed By Detective Services Scheduled For Paterson Man Shot, Killed By Detective
Services Scheduled For Paterson Man Shot, Killed By Detective Services are scheduled this coming Saturday for a Paterson man who was shot and killed last week in a confrontation with city police detectives. Witnesses insist that Thelonious “RaRa” McKnight, 25, was gunned down in cold blood last Wednesday night after detectives chased him down an alley in a mixed-use neighborhood of multi-family homes and businesses near the Passaic River New Jersey's top law enforcer, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck, said that a 9mm handgun was found near McKnight's body. Investigators had made an arrest there hours earlier and were looking fo…
Services Scheduled For Paterson Man Shot, Killed By Detective Services Scheduled For Paterson Man Shot, Killed By Detective
Services Scheduled For Paterson Man Shot, Killed By Detective Services are scheduled this coming Saturday for a Paterson man who was shot and killed in a confrontation with city police detectives. Witnesses insist that Thelonious “RaRa” McKnight, 25, was gunned down in cold blood last Wednesday night after detectives chased him down an alley in a mixed-use neighborhood of multi-family homes and businesses near the Passaic River New Jersey's top law enforcer, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck, said that a 9mm handgun was found near McKnight's body. Investigators had made an arrest there hours earlier and were looking for another …
'Israelis Are New Nazis': Paterson Hookah Shop Posts Anti-Israel Sign With Swastika 'Israelis Are New Nazis': Paterson Hookah Shop Posts Anti-Israel Sign With Swastika
'Israelis Are New Nazis': Paterson Hookah Shop Posts Anti-Israel Sign With Swastika A sign outside a Paterson hookah shop calling Israelis "the new Nazis" is stirring controversy. The sign outside of Clifton Hookah on Main Street bears a swastika and a photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a Hitler-styled mustache. A photo of the sign was shared on by StopAntisemitism.org on Twitter, which called it a "vile comparison deemed Antisemitic by the [International Holocaust Remembrance Association]." Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh said it is "both shocking and saddening to witness such ignorance in a city that celebrates diversity as its greatest strength and at…
Clifton Man Gets Probation For Threatening Paterson Police Chief Over Race, Religion Clifton Man Gets Probation For Threatening Paterson Police Chief Over Race, Religion
Clifton Man Gets Probation For Threatening Paterson Police Chief Over Race, Religion UPDATE: A Clifton man who texted threats to Paterson’s first Muslim police chief because of his race, religion and nationality got plea-bargained probation. Stefan Keco, 29, who spent more than 15 months in the Passaic County Jail, also was ordered to attend counseling and to not have any contact with Chief Ibrahim Baycora, in addition to the three-year probationary sentence. Rather than face trial, Keco took a deal from prosecutors following an investigation by city police and including the FBI, Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office and other law enforcement agencies. In exchange for leni…
7-Year-Old Child Stabbed Dead In Paterson 7-Year-Old Child Stabbed Dead In Paterson
7-Year-Old Child Stabbed Dead In Paterson UPDATE: Responders furiously tried to save the life a 7-year-old Paterson boy whom authorities said was stabbed dead by his mother early Saturday. Iris Tolentino, 46, also stabbed the dead boy's 17-year-old brother, who was holding a bathroom closed to keep her restrained until police arrived, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Chief Ibrahim Baycora said in a joint announcement. The younger boy, whom neighbors called David, was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center. The older brother was treated for a stab wound to his upper arm be…
Clifton Man Admits Threatening Paterson Police Chief Over Race, Religion Clifton Man Admits Threatening Paterson Police Chief Over Race, Religion
Clifton Man Admits Threatening Paterson Police Chief Over Race, Religion UPDATE: A Clifton man admitted that he sent Paterson’s first Muslim police chief threatening texts because of his race, religion and nationality, authorities said. Stefan Keco, 29, told a Superior Court judge in Paterson on Monday that he sent the texts to Chief Ibrahim Baycora on Feb. 26 “with the purpose to terrorize him and in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such terror,” Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes said. Baycora had been sworn to the position only a few weeks before receiving the threats. The threats “caused a disruption to the day-to-day operations of the poli…
Indictment: Clifton Man Threatened Paterson Police Chief Over Race, Religion Indictment: Clifton Man Threatened Paterson Police Chief Over Race, Religion
Indictment: Clifton Man Threatened Paterson Police Chief Over Race, Religion UPDATE: Paterson’s first Muslim police chief wasn’t in the job long when authorities said he became the target of threatening texts from a Clifton man because of his race, religion and nationality. A grand jury in Paterson returned a terroristic threats indictment against Stefan Keco, 29, who’s been held in the Passaic County Jail since city detectives arrested and charged him more than a year ago with threatening Police Chief Ibrahim “Mike” Baycora. Baycora had been sworn to the position only a few weeks before receiving the threats, authorities said. Keco sent the texts to the chief “wit…
Famed 'Lean On Me' Paterson Eastside Principal Joe Clark Dies Famed 'Lean On Me' Paterson Eastside Principal Joe Clark Dies
Famed 'Lean On Me' Paterson Eastside Principal Joe Clark Dies He roamed the hallways of Paterson Eastside High School with a bullhorn and bat, wielding a brand of drill-instructor discipline that drew both admirers and critics alike. He held news conferences at 7 a.m. and once expelled 300 students for "fighting, vandalism, abusing teachers, and drug possession" – all in a single day. And he left such an indelible mark that John Legend, Wendy Calhoun and LeBron James were preparing to create a TV drama about him 30 years after his retirement. Joe Louis Clark, a Georgia-born, longtime South Orange resident who appeared on the cover of Time magazine an…
Badge Number Of Slain Paterson Police Officer Reassigned To Rookie -- His Sister Badge Number Of Slain Paterson Police Officer Reassigned To Rookie -- His Sister
Badge Number Of Slain Paterson Police Officer Reassigned To Rookie -- His Sister Local law enforcement history will be made Friday when Paterson Police Officer Bavennia Franklin Marks is assigned the badge number of her late brother, who was killed in the line of duty 13 years ago. Among many friends, family members and colleagues expected at the City Hall ceremony is her father, Larry Franklin, who made history himself when he became the Paterson Fire Department’s first black captain in 1995.  Also there will be Franklin's husband, Englewood native Daniel Marks, who’s a youth minister at Canaan Baptist Church in the city’s notorious 4th Ward. City Public Saf…
Some Blame COVID: Paterson Man Gunned Down, City Homicides Break 30-Year High Some Blame COVID: Paterson Man Gunned Down, City Homicides Break 30-Year High
Some Blame COVID: Paterson Man Gunned Down, City Homicides Break 30-Year High A man found shot dead in a Paterson gas station parking lot Wednesday became the 23rd victim gunned down in the Silk City this year. The body of Michael Richardson, 33, was found on the ground of the BP station at Broadway and Summer Street, in a neighborhood rife with drugs and gangs, shortly after 3 p.m., authorities said. He'd been shot in the head, said detectives who were searching for a juvenile who reportedly fled the scene. Richardson was taken to St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes and city Police Chief Ibrah…
'Drug Dungeon': Synth Pot Lab Found In Paterson Basement, 4 Firefighters Sickened By Fumes 'Drug Dungeon': Synth Pot Lab Found In Paterson Basement, 4 Firefighters Sickened By Fumes
'Drug Dungeon': Synth Pot Lab Found In Paterson Basement, 4 Firefighters Sickened By Fumes Four firefighters were briefly hospitalized after an overnight explosion and fire at a large-scale synth pot lab in the basement of a Paterson home up the block from a school. The firefighters were evaluated as a precaution and then released from St.Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson after they inhaled noxious fumes at the Illinois Avenue residence, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said. “What it appears to be is a K2 mill,” Speziale said. Sold cheaply in packages the size of tea bags, K2 is what some officials have referred to as “weaponized marijuana.” It’s mixed with min…
Freeholder Calls Paterson Mayor ‘Punk,’ ‘Slimy Coward’ After National TV Interview Freeholder Calls Paterson Mayor ‘Punk,’ ‘Slimy Coward’ After National TV Interview
Freeholder Calls Paterson Mayor ‘Punk,’ ‘Slimy Coward’ After National TV Interview Passaic County Freeholder Theodore Best called Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh a “slimy coward” and “a punk” in a Facebook post Thursday night following a nationally televised interview the mayor gave MSNBC about the city’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Although initial projections were that 8,000 Paterson residents would contract COVID-19 by April 15, the actual number on that date over a month ago was about 2,500, Sayegh said, praising the work of city health officials and contact tracers. “It could have been far worse,” Sayegh said during an MSNBC interview segment with Chris Hayes …
UPDATE: Wind-Whipped Paterson Fire On Eve Of Mother's Day Burns 59 Residents Out Of Their Homes UPDATE: Wind-Whipped Paterson Fire On Eve Of Mother's Day Burns 59 Residents Out Of Their Homes
Update: Wind-Whipped Paterson Fire On Eve Of Mother's Day Burns 59 Residents Out Of Their Homes High winds whipped a roaring fire that tore through a Paterson neighborhood Saturday night, destroying five houses, severely damaging a sixth and displacing 59 residents. No injuries were reported in the Beech Street blaze, city Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said. The Red Cross provided temporary shelter, food and clothing to the displaced. Fire officials who responded to the fire around 8:45 p.m. immediately called in a second alarm. What followed: In barely 10 minutes, three houses were involved and a third alarm was transmitted; A fourth alarm went out almost immediately afte…
Coronavirus Kills Paterson Police Officer Coronavirus Kills Paterson Police Officer
Coronavirus Kills Paterson Police Officer A 34-year-old Paterson police officer died Easter Sunday morning at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center of complications from the coronavirus, authorities said. Officer Francesco Scorpo, 34, was "a dedicated public servant who served our profession and our community with pride, honor and distinction," Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said. Scorpo joined the department in July 2015 and served in both the Patrol and Traffic Divisions. "A dedicated son, husband and father, Officer Scorpo was a family man who cared so very much about people and his profession," Speziale said. "He w…
Health Officials: Paterson Coronavirus Patients Not Sharing Contact Info Put City At Risk Health Officials: Paterson Coronavirus Patients Not Sharing Contact Info Put City At Risk
Health Officials: Paterson Coronavirus Patients Not Sharing Contact Info Put City At Risk Some Paterson residents who've tested positive for the coronavirus aren't sharing their close-contact information, putting their loved ones and others at risk, city health officials warned.  "This is becoming a disturbing trend," Mayor Andre Sayegh said through a spokeswoman on Wednesday. "The result will be an increasing number of household contacts getting infected and spreading the disease within the city and elsewhere." The numbers of people infected with COVID-19 could increase dramatically if those who have the virus and those who have close contact with them aren't isolated…
Paterson Mayor: I've Tested Positive For COVID-19 Paterson Mayor: I've Tested Positive For COVID-19
Paterson Mayor: I've Tested Positive For Covid-19 “Today I found out that, like so many around the world, I have tested positive for COVID-19," Paterson Mayor André Sayegh said Tuesday. Sayegh said he was "one of hundreds of first responders and city employees tested this past weekend." "Even with all my careful efforts of social distancing for the last month -- keeping six feet away from all individuals, vigorously practicing good hand hygiene, and even over the last week, wearing a mask in public -- I have fallen prey to this virus," he said. COVID-19 is "a silent virus and I do not know exactly where I may have contracted it," the…
Police: ‘Corona Virus’ Heroin Bags Found On Fleeing Paterson Suspect Police: ‘Corona Virus’ Heroin Bags Found On Fleeing Paterson Suspect
Police: ‘Corona Virus’ Heroin Bags Found On Fleeing Paterson Suspect It was bound to happen: A man chased down by Paterson police following a drug deal was carrying bags of heroin stamped “Corona Virus,” authorities said. Heroin marketed to current events is commonplace in the inner cities – from “WMD” and “Bin Laden” to “Hurricane Sandy,” “ObamaCare” and even “KURTCOBAIN.” Paterson Officer Jimmy Maldonado was on uniform patrol in the area of Godwin Avenue and Auburn Street on Sunday when he saw the deal go down, Police Director Jerry Speziale said. The two men involved started to tip away as Maldonado approached, he said. One of them – identified as Tyron…
New Drive-Thru Coronavirus Testing Site At William Paterson Will Require Prescription New Drive-Thru Coronavirus Testing Site At William Paterson Will Require Prescription
New Drive-Thru Coronavirus Testing Site At William Paterson Will Require Prescription A coronavirus testing site will open at William Paterson University this week with a major difference from the state's first government-run site in Paramus. "You're gonna need a prescription," Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh said Sunday afternoon. "At Bergen Community College, they are screening on site -- that's what you attribute the long lines to," the mayor said. "They will not do that here." Several lanes will be open, with Passaic County sheriff's officers directing the traffic, Sayegh said. "Paramus Road has become congested," he said. "This will keep the traffic flowing. It will move …