Man fatally shot in Paterson NJ is 19th homicide, woman injured

PATERSON – In the city’s 19th homicide of the year, a Paterson man in his 40s was fatally shot in the 4th Ward late Saturday night, law enforcement sources said.

The shooting happened at about 11 p.m. on Van Houten Street, near the corner of Summer Street, a high-crime area, authorities said. A woman also was hit by gunfire and suffered nonfatal injuries in the incident, police said.

Additional details about the crime, including the victims’ names, were not available early Sunday morning.

The city has had about 77 shootings so far this year, a 20% decrease compared to this point of 2021, which was a record-setting year for killings, according to data compiled by Paterson Press. Last year, as of Oct. 1, Paterson had 23 homicides and 97 shooting incidents.

Mayor Andre Sayegh recently cited the rise in shootings in Paterson over the past two years – part of a national trend – as his reason for firing Police Chief Ibrahim “Mike” Baycora.

Sayegh said he blamed Baycora for not having a plan to combat the violence. Baycora claimed in a lawsuit against the city that the Sayegh administration didn’t give him the resources he needed to address the problem.

Despite the drop in killings compared to last year, Paterson’s gun violence statistics remain about the same as 2020 and higher than 2019 and 2018.

In 2020, Paterson had 20 homicides and 82 shootings through Oct. 1. Three years ago, the city had 68 shootings and 13 homicides through Oct. 1, and in 2018 there were 50 shootings and six homicides in that time period.

Paterson police chief fired:Paterson mayor: Fired police chief had ‘no plan, no vision, no strategy’

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson NJ: 19th homicide leaves man dead, woman injured