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It was the Silk City’s 19th homicide of the year, with nearly three full months to go.
Police who responded to a shots-fired report near the intersection of Van Houten and Summer streets right behind the city public library said they found blood, numerous shell casings and vehicles riddled with bullets but no victims shortly after 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1.
That’s because both victims – a 42-year-old man and 49-year-old woman – had been taken to St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in a civilian’s vehicle, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Acting Paterson Police Chief Bert Ribeiro said in a release.
He was pronounced dead and she remained in stable condition, they said.
The 4th Ward intersection -- anchored on the southeast corner by Familiar Gonzalez Grocery Store -- has become known for drugs and death.
Two years ago this month, a 26-year-old city man was killed and a 28-year-old companion wounded in an 8 p.m. shooting at Van Houten and Summer.
SEE: Paterson Man, 26, Slain In Street Shooting
It was a little over two months later, on Thanksgiving Eve 2020, that a 58-year-old woman was shot dead in the chest near the same corner.
SEE: Another Victim Gunned Down At Deadly Paterson Street Corner As Citywide Killings Continue
Shootings in Paterson are actually down this year by roughly 20% as opposed to the same nine-month time period in 2021. Homicides, meanwhile, are pace to nearly match last year's total.
Paterson had six homicides through the first nine months of 2019. There were 19 killings in the Silk City over the entire year.
That number shot up to 20 for the first nine months of 2020 and 27 for the entire year -- which at the time was a record for this century.
Over that same period in 2021, there were 23. Overall, Paterson had 28 homicides last year.
That killing total, at the current pace, would be 27.
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