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People in one group were drinking, playing loud music and blocking the roadway at Main and Weis streets shortly before 1 a.m. Saturday, Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale said.
As Detectives Levis Qirjako, Mustafa Dombayci, John Traynor, Mohammed Bashir and Luis Pimienta pulled up to disperse the crowd, Faquir Melton took off on foot, Speziale said.
They grabbed Melton, 29, who was carrying a 9mm semi-automatic Glock handgun with a large-capacity magazine, the director said.
It was a little over 24 hours later when detectives approached an even larger group of roughly 50 people hanging out amid several double-parked vehicles blocking the roadway near the corner of Montgomery and Summer streets, Speziale said.
Pimienta and Bashier noticed a handgun in the waistband of Dante Jackson, 23, who pulled the weapon out and ran down the street holding it, the director said.
A lengthy foot chase ended with Jackson in custody and the gun recovered, he said.
Both he and Melton remained held Monday in the Passaic County Jail pending first appearances in Central Judicial Processing Court in Paterson on charges that include weapons and illegal magazine possession and resisting arrest.
The weapons were being sent to the New Jersey State Police laboratory for testing to determine whether they’d been used in crimes.
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