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Michael Richardson first went to state prison after a shot fired during a home invasion just missed the head of a 9-year-old boy.
Richardson served two stretches of nearly seven years combined. The second time was for being a convicted felon in possession of a gun.
He was paroled this past April and, barely three months later, became the target of a manhunt.
City resident James “Weedy” Timmons had gotten into a beef with a group of men, including Richardson, on the porch of a house on Rosa Parks Boulevard on July 25, authorities said.
Richardson pulled a gun, shot him in the neck, then bolted out a back door, they said.
Detectives interviewed several witnesses – including Timmons, 42, who was able to describe his killer before he took his last breath.
They also reviewed surveillance video, then obtained a warrant for Richardson’s arrest for murder the next day.
It took five months, but police finally found Richardson, 33, this past Wednesday.
He was dead, a bullet in his head, outside a gas station near the corner of Broadway and Summer Street in Paterson’s notorious 4th Ward. It was the middle of the afternoon.
On Saturday, authorities announced that two assailants shot Richardson. One was in custody, they said.
They didn't say whether they believed the shooters were exacting their own brand of street justice -- only that an arrest had been made.
SEE: Paterson Teen Charged With Gunning Down Murder Suspect
Richardson’s death was the Silk City’s 26th homicide in 2020, the most in more than three decades.
In some ways, the killing captures the nature of violence in what is by far Paterson’s deadliest area.
Of this year’s killings, 17 occurred in the 4th Ward, which has become a battlefield of drug-dealing gangs and teenage hotheads.
Some believe Richardson’s death is simply a matter of what goes around coming around.
Richardson's first taste of prison stemmed from the 2011 home invasion on Market Street.
He and another robber were wearing masks when they forced their way into the apartment, authorities said.
One of them ordered the 9-year-old boy, his 14-year-old brother and their mother and grandmother to the floor at gunpoint, while the other robber ransacked the apartment.
At one point the gun went off, although police said it was apparently an accident.
They'd also apparently gone to the wrong house.
Although the robbers came looking for money, they left with only the mother’s cellphone. It ironically became the clue that helped catch Richardson.
Acting on a hunch, detectives went to Rosa Parks Boulevard, close to where Timmons would be killed this year. Then they dialed the phone’s number.
Seeing them, Richardson started to tip away just as the phone in his pocket rang.
The detectives heard it and captured Richardson, who was later convicted for his role in the Market Street home invasion.
The ringtone?
None other than the theme song from “Law & Order.”
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