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Tamaj Lemmon, 21, fired at three men near the corner of Straight and Montgomery streets after they'd emerged from a nearby bar in April 2017, prosecutors said.
Two were struck in the back, they said.
One victim fled and survived his injuries.
Lemmon, meanwhile, walked up to the other, who was lying on the ground after being struck five times, and shot him in the face, authorities said.
Lemmon was home when city police said they found him hiding in the boiler room of the building where he lived. He was carrying 38 bags of heroin, with a handgun nearby, they said.
While being taken into custody, Lemmon "assaulted a police officer, causing bruising and swelling to the wrist, and resisted arrest by temporarily fleeing on foot before being re-apprehended," Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes said at the time.
Police believe two other city shooting over the following two days were in retaliation for the incident. All of the five men struck in the two subsequent shootings survived, authorities said.
Jurors in Paterson needed five days of deliberations to convict Lemmon in July of murder, aggravated assault and three weapons offenses before Superior Court Judge Justine A. Niccollai sentenced him on Friday.
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