Paterson weekends continue to be filled with gunshots
PATERSON — Eight people, including a 13-year-old boy, were injured in two separate shootings that happened less than four hours apart Friday night and Saturday morning in Paterson's 4th Ward, authorities said.
The shootings produced the highest number of weekend gunshot victims since early last summer, when eight people were shot on June 25 and 26 in three incidents in the 1st, 4th and 5th wards, according to records compiled by Paterson Press.
The first shooting happened at 9 p.m. Friday near the corner of Fair and East 18th streets, resulting in injuries to the 13-year-old and a 19-year-old, the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office said.
The second shooting took place just before 1 a.m. on Saturday around Madison and 10th avenues, resulting in injuries to six victims — three men and three women — between the ages of 26 and 37, authorities said.
More: Robbery of three food delivery drivers, three shootings in Paterson over weekend
Law enforcement sources said there was no indication the two incidents were connected. The sources attributed the high number of victims in the second shooting to the fact that a large group of people was hanging around outside during the unusually warm April night.
So far, 14 of the 22 Paterson shootings this year have happened in the 4th Ward, authorities said.
More: Suspect named in stabbing attack on imam during prayers at South Paterson Omar Mosque
New Jersey State Police Maj. Frederick Fife, whom the state designated as officer-in-charge in Paterson as part of the attorney general’s takeover of the city Police Department, issued a brief statement about the weekend’s gun violence.
“The Paterson Police Department is working with the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office to investigate the shootings that took place over the weekend,” Fife said. “We will continue to use all the information that is available to us to make strategic operational decisions. This includes utilizing the vast resources of the New Jersey Regional Operations and Intelligence Center (ROIC) to identify micro-hotspots of sustained or future gun violence, and better inform resource allocation.”
Paterson activist Corey Teague expressed patience, saying he doesn’t expect to see crime drop in the city just three weeks after the state takeover.
“We definitely can’t expect change overnight,” Teague said. “This violence has been around for so many years.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson has another weekend full of gunshots, injuries
