A 16 year-old boy from Bayonne and a Jersey City man were arrested and three handguns along with expanding bullets recovered by Jersey City police following a volley of gunfire on Communipaw Ave. first reported by the Jersey City Times.
The gunfire took place at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday in the vicinity of 394 Communipaw Avenue. Three men fled but a gun was recovered. There were no reported injuries.
According to information given to the Jersey Journal by mayoral spokesperson Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione, the two suspects were arrested later that night when Jersey City police on patrol saw three people in the area of Communipaw and Crescent Avenues matching the descriptions given for the shooters.
Two of them, the 16-year-old and 22-year-old Waajid Beckett of Jersey City, were arrested and had handguns on them. One of the handguns had been stolen out of state. The fate of the third person seen by the police was not given.
Both were charged with unlawful possession of a handgun, possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose and possession of “dum-dum” bullets. Beckett was also charged with possessing and receiving stolen property. Expanding or dum-dum bullets, are projectiles designed to expand on impact, produce a larger wound and cause more damage to a living target.
Cities around the country have experienced an increase in gun violence over the last two years.
The extent of any increase in crime in Jersey City is unknown. The Fulop administration stopped publishing monthly CompStat data in June of 2019. No explanation was given.
New York City residents, in contrast, have access to fresh crime data, including shootings, from weekly CompStat reports posted on the city’s website.