Dead teen may have been robber
Target had gun, fired back, officials say
PATERSON — The teenager killed during a shootout near a popular Paterson food truck early Sunday morning may have been part of a group of young men trying to commit an armed robbery, law enforcement sources said.
But the robbers chose the wrong victim — someone who was carrying his own gun and resisted being robbed, the police sources said.
A video showed a group of about 13 young men and women hanging around on the sidewalk in front of the food truck. The scene seemed peaceful until two men appeared running behind the group, one wearing all black chasing another wearing a white shirt and jeans.
Both men had guns, and they started shooting at each other, causing the people in front of the food truck to flee, the video showed. As they fired their weapons, the two gunmen fell to the ground in the supermarket parking lot.
While on the pavement, the man in white rolled to his side, so he was facing his prone pursuer, and fired four or five more shots at him, the video shows. The man in black scrambled to his feet and fled. As the video showed the man in white sprawled in the parking lot, another seven or eight shots were fired offcamera. Law enforcement sources said the man in black ended up dying from his wounds after being taken to St. Joseph’s University Medical Center, but the man in white survived and was in stable condition at the hospital.
Authorities have not revealed the names of the two people who were hit in the shootout. As of Tuesday morning, police had not made any arrests in the case. Authorities have not revealed whether the man in the white shirt had registered the gun he used to fend off the robbery.
The incident became Paterson’s sixth homicide in October, setting off another exchange of words between Mayor Andre Sayegh and Attorney General Matthew Platkin about public safety in the city during state control of the Police Department.