Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes and Paterson Police Chief Ibrahim Baycora didn’t explain why they waited nearly two weeks to announce the arrest of Dashawn A. Rhoden, 22, in the shooting death of Juan Garcia, 28 last July 3.
They'd done the same earlier Monday when they announced the capture of a suspect in another murder case,
Garcia was gunned down in front of his mother in a targeted hit outside their home on dead-ended Franklin Street near Rosa Parks Boulevard, authorities said.
Police tried furiously to revive him, but EMS pronounced him dead at the scene.
Authorities said five conspirators in all were involved in the targeted hit – among them, the shooter, a lookout and a getaway driver.
Some of them reportedly had come looking for Garcia that week, apparently in some kind of dispute over a gun, according to documents on file in Superior Court in Paterson.
Imeir I. Tucker, who owned the van the assailants fled in, surrendered on July 6, Valdes and Baycora said at the time.
Two days after that, Paterson police captured Jeremaih Rosado at a tire shop at East 22nd Street and Park Avenue, they said.
Rhoden was a wanted fugitive when Elmwood Park police nabbed him during a traffic stop on westbound Route 46 the afternoon of Dec. 30, 2021, Valdes and Baycora disclosed Monday.
Rosado is being held at the Bergen County Jail. Rhoden was being held in the Passaic County Jail. No records of Tucker’s whereabouts could be found.
All three men are charged with murder, conspiracy and weapons offenses, Valdes and Baycora said.
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ALSO SEE: A fugitive wanted for stabbing a fellow Paterson resident dead during a group brawl nearly a year ago was captured in Rhode Island last month, authorities announced on Monday. READ MORE....
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