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A U.S. District Court judge scheduled a bail hearing at 11 a.m. Wednesday for Ahmed A-Hady, 35, of Keyport, who's charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. The judge also ordered that A-Hady remain held until then.
A handwritten note found in the pocket of one of the two dead Jersey City shooters led investigators to A-Hady and what the government says were three AR-15-style assault rifles, among 13 weapons in all, discovered in a safe in his pawn shop.
They also found a .45-caliber handgun that A-Hady (also known as Ed Him) wasn’t legally permitted to have, leading to the federal charge .S. Attorney for New Jersey Craig Carpenito said.
It began, Carpenito said, after investigators found a handwritten note in the rear right pocket of David Anderson, 47, following last Tuesday's gun battle in Jersey City.
It contained a telephone number ending in 4115 and the address of the pawn shop, he said.
A records search showed that A-Hady bought one Smith and Wesson handgun on May 23, 2007 and another 10 days later, the U.S. attorney said.
A-Hady was convicted in 2012 of trying to obtain prescription drugs by fraud, which prohibited him from possessing a firearm, Carpenito said.
A-Hady “admitted to owning both the .45 caliber and the .44 caliber” when investigators interviewed him in his apartment over the pawn shop Friday night, but he “falsely denied that they were on the premises,” he said.
A relative pointed them to a safe in the shop downstairs, where investigators found three handguns, including one of the two that A-Hady bought years earlier, Carpenito said.
In addition to the .44-caliber Smith & Wesson, there was a PK 380 and a Ruger 9mm, records show.
A subsequent search of the pawnshop produced six rifles (including three AR-15-style assault rifles), three handguns, and one shotgun, Carpenito said.
In A-Hady’s upstairs apartment, they found more than 400 rounds of ammunition, including a “large number” of hollow-point bullets, he said.
A-Hady had been held in a local county jail pending his first court appearance. Where he was taken after his Newark federal court appearance wasn't disclosed.
Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI, the ATF, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office and New Jersey State Police with the investigation leading to the weapons discovery and A-Hady’s arrest.
He also thanked the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office and Jersey City police for their assistance.
Prosecuting the case for the government is Ronnell Wilson, chief of the National Security Unit of Carpenito’s office, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dean C. Sovolos and Thomas S. Kearney, also of the NSU.
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