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Police & Fire
Teenagers Charged In Fatal Middlesex County Shooting Teenagers Charged In Fatal Middlesex County Shooting
Teenagers Charged In Fatal Middlesex County Shooting A pair of teenagers have been charged with the fatal shooting of a Union County man, authorities said. The unidentified juveniles are charged in the shooting death of Mark Atkins, 18, of Plainfield, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and North Brunswick Police Chief Joseph Battaglia. One suspect is in custody and the other remains at large, they said late Friday. The 17-year-old suspects are charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, Ciccone and Battaglia said.   On Wednesda…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
Trio Arrested With 11 Guns, Ammo, Methamphetamine In Mercer County Trio Arrested With 11 Guns, Ammo, Methamphetamine In Mercer County
Trio Arrested With 11 Guns, Ammo, Methamphetamine In Mercer County Three people have been arrested and 11 guns seized after a multi-agency investigation of drug dealing in Mercer County, authorities said. In addition to recovering guns, authorities seized high-capacity rifle magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and about $1,000 in methamphetamine, according to Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri.  At about 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday, members of the New Jersey State Police TEAMS Unit, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office, the Hamilton Township Police Division, the Trenton Police Departme…

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by Jon Craig
News
Costumed Ex-Con Who Sprayed Elizabeth Street With Gunfire Gets 10 Years In Fed Pen Costumed Ex-Con Who Sprayed Elizabeth Street With Gunfire Gets 10 Years In Fed Pen
Costumed Ex-Con Who Sprayed Elizabeth Street With Gunfire Gets 10 Years In Fed Pen An ex-con who opened fire on an Elizabeth street while wearing a disguise was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in federal prison. Because there’s no parole in the federal prison system, city resident Jarrell L. Daniels, 29, must serve just about all of the sentence handed down in U.S. District Court in Newark. Daniels was wearing a costume and latex gloves when he walked down Irvington Avenue on April 9, 2018 carrying a .45-caliber semi-automatic Masterpiece Arms ACP with 30 additional rounds of ammunition in an extended magazine, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Coming upon his i…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
BUSTED! CT Man Facing 125 Burglary Charges Across NJ, NY Found With 9 Handguns, Crossbow BUSTED! CT Man Facing 125 Burglary Charges Across NJ, NY Found With 9 Handguns, Crossbow
Busted! CT Man Facing 125 Burglary Charges Across NJ, NY Found With 9 Handguns, Crossbow A 30-year-old Connecticut man arrested in connection with a string of burglaries across New Jersey and New York was found with nine handguns, a crossbow and a slew of other weapons and contraband following a multi-jurisdictional investigation, authorities said. Patrick Ryan of Fairfield, CT was arrested Sunday morning and charged with a total of 74 counts of burglary to a motor vehicle and dozens of other offenses, Hardyston police said in release from the Sussex County Detective’s Association. A search of Ryan’s house and car turned up nine handguns, a crossbow and a shotgun, as well as nu…

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by Valerie Musson
News
Paterson PD: Ex-Con Dealer Busted With Armed Underage Lookout, 400 Heroin Folds, 35 Crack Bags Paterson PD: Ex-Con Dealer Busted With Armed Underage Lookout, 400 Heroin Folds, 35 Crack Bags
Paterson PD: Ex-Con Dealer Busted With Armed Underage Lookout, 400 Heroin Folds, 35 Crack Bags An underage lookout was armed with a loaded gun when Paterson detectives grabbed him and the ex-con street dealer he worked for with hundreds of heroin folds, authorities said. The investigators moved in after watching Qadir McCrae, 25, complete a pair of broad daylight deals near the corner of Broadway and Summer Street shortly before noon Tuesday, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said. Both times, a 17-year-old boy acted as lookout, Speziale said. The juvenile was carrying a 9mm Glock 19 handgun loaded with 12 rounds, 86 heroin folds and $101 in proceeds when police grabbed him and …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Prosecutor: Multiple Firearms, Ammo Seized In 2-Hour Central Jersey SWAT Standoff Prosecutor: Multiple Firearms, Ammo Seized In 2-Hour Central Jersey SWAT Standoff
Prosecutor: Multiple Firearms, Ammo Seized In 2-Hour Central Jersey SWAT Standoff Multiple firearms and ammunition were seized from a 74-year-old Central Jersey man who authorities said fired a gun inside his home with a woman upstairs, launching a nearly two-hour SWAT standoff. Raritan police were called to a Hidden Pond Court home, just after Stephen E. McManus fired a shot around 8 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12, Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson said. Nearby residents were evacuated for their safety as officers on scene made "direct visual and verbal contact" with a female resident in an upstairs bedroom of McManus' home, Robertson said. Meanwhile, McM…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Authorities: Released Gun Offender Charged With Prostituting Girl, 16, At Trenton Hotel Authorities: Released Gun Offender Charged With Prostituting Girl, 16, At Trenton Hotel
Authorities: Released Gun Offender Charged With Prostituting Girl, 16, At Trenton Hotel A Trenton man who was released after he was caught with three handguns and a missing 16-year-old girl following a high-speed police chase and crash was charged with prostituting the underage teen at a local hotel, state authorities announced. Ronald D. Harris, 40, originally was arrested on weapons charges by Trenton police and New Jersey State Police in July, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said Monday. Harris had fled a traffic stop, hitting an unmarked police vehicle with his car, running a red light and hitting speeds of up to 80 miles an hour before it slammed into a taxi,…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Jersey Shore Man Who Brought Explosives To Sea Bright Bar Spared Jail Time Jersey Shore Man Who Brought Explosives To Sea Bright Bar Spared Jail Time
Jersey Shore Man Who Brought Explosives To Sea Bright Bar Spared Jail Time A 56-year-old man who admitted leaving explosives at a Jersey Shore bar and causing the cancellation of a Labor Day parade in South Plainfield has been spared jail time, authorities said. Thomas G. Kaiser was sentenced to one year of probation on Tuesday, after pleading guilty on July 13 to two counts of possession of prohibited weapons and one count of tampering with physical evidence, according to Christopher Swendeman, a spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office. Kaiser was arrested on Labor Day weekend 2019 after bringing an explosive to Donovan’s Reef in Sea Bright and givi…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
SWAT Standoff: South Brunswick Hotel Guest Blew Kisses At Police, Threw Urine At Hospital Staff SWAT Standoff: South Brunswick Hotel Guest Blew Kisses At Police, Threw Urine At Hospital Staff
SWAT Standoff: South Brunswick Hotel Guest Blew Kisses At Police, Threw Urine At Hospital Staff A Central Jersey hotel guest was taken into custody after an hours-long standoff last week in which he "blew kisses" at his arresting officers, authorities said. Louis Smith, 46, remained handcuffed to a hospital bed and surrounded by patrol officers at a New Brunswick hospital on Monday, days after the Route 1 incident at Hotel Vicenza, South Brunswick Police Chief Raymond Hayducka said. Smith, an ex-convict from New Brunswick, had been staying at the South Brunswick hotel for two weeks when he flashed a handgun during an argument with hotel staff around 2 p.m. Friday, police said. O…

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by Jon Craig
News
Passaic County Pair Bagged $80,000 In Back-To-Back Bank Robberies Passaic County Pair Bagged $80,000 In Back-To-Back Bank Robberies
Passaic County Pair Bagged $80,000 In Back-To-Back Bank Robberies Two men nabbed by the FBI following bank robberies in Passaic and Little Falls just weeks apart were indicted by a federal grand jury in Newark. Nicholas Ortiz, 37, of Paterson, and Jose Soto, 49, of Passaic, have remained in federal custody since their March arrests for robbing a PNC branch in Passaic of $35,000 and a Valley National Bank in Little Falls of $45,000. One of them pointed a silver and black gun at customers and employees at the Main Street Valley National branch in Little Falls on Feb. 27, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. The other then "jumped over a teller counter …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
COVID-19: Fewer Flying, But More Caught Carrying Guns At Airports COVID-19: Fewer Flying, But More Caught Carrying Guns At Airports
Covid-19: Fewer Flying, But More Caught Carrying Guns At Airports An Essex County traveler caught trying to bring a loaded gun through a Newark Airport checkpoint late last week wasn't a rarity: Even though far fewer people are flying because of the coronavirus, the TSA says, more passengers are packin'. Airline traveler volume since the pandemic hit has been 60% to 80% lower than last year. Yet, with 11 weeks left in 2020, the TSA reports as many guns seized this year as in all of 2019, "when passenger volume was significantly more robust," said Thomas Carter, the TSA’s security director for New Jersey. Some examples: A Pennsylvania man was caught wit…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paterson PD: Driver Who Ran Stop Sign Had Loaded Gun In Waistband Paterson PD: Driver Who Ran Stop Sign Had Loaded Gun In Waistband
Paterson PD: Driver Who Ran Stop Sign Had Loaded Gun In Waistband A driver stopped by Paterson police detectives for running a stop sign had a loaded handgun tucked into his waistband, authorities said. Detectives Mustafa Dombayci and Joseph Aboyoun smelled burnt marijuana coming from a Toyota Camry with Massachusetts license plates that they'd stopped on Hamilton Avenue, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said Sunday. Backup Detective James Jenkins spotted the gun and alerted his colleagues, who seized the driver, Craig Tomlinson, 25, of Paterson, Speziale said. He was carrying a loaded .40-caliber Glock semi-automatic pistol, the director said. Pol…

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by Jerry DeMarco