Two Charged After Gunfire, Crash in Teaneck

Teaneck police have arrested two New York men after one of them opened fire Tuesday night on a car carrying four people, including a two-year-old child, authorities said.

Officers responded to reports of gunshots and a car crash in the area of Congress Avenue and Robinson Street around 7 p.m. and found a damaged Ford Edge and a sport utility vehicle, police said Wednesday morning.

At the crash scene, a passenger from the Ford told officers two men were chasing him on foot along Route 4 and he jumped into the vehicle carrying a couple he knew and their young child, police said. At that point, one of the men started shooting at the Ford from the middle of the street.

In an effort to escape, police said the driver sped in reverse for a block before crashing into the SUV parked on Robinson Street, pushing it onto a nearby yard. The two attackers took off running toward a footbridge crossing Route 4 leading to the Phelps Road-area.

Police rushed to the scene and found the two men, identified as Pomona, N.Y., residents Jarrell Stone and Bruce A. Loo hiding behind a building on Minell Place, authorities said.

Hours later, a Phelps Road resident called police to report finding a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun in a yard, authorities said. Although police did not identify the caller, Councilman Elie Y. Katz, a Phelps Road resident, said he found the weapon with a neighbor after watching footage captured by his home security system showing the two alleged assailants on the block. Katz said he alerted police and shared the video with investigators.

“The handgun was believed to be the weapon used in the shooting and was recovered as evidence,” Police Chief Robert Wilson said in a statement.

Seven .40 caliber shell casings were also found at the shooting scene on Congress Avenue, according to police.  

Stone, the 26-year-old alleged shooter, was charged with four counts of attempted murder and weapons offenses. Loo, 19, faces four counts of conspiracy to commit murder.

Both men appeared in Teaneck Municipal Court Wednesday morning and were ordered held at the Bergen County Jail on $250,000 bail.

The motive for the attack was unclear, but the intended target told police the two men were following him at the Garden State Plaza earlier that day for "an unknown reason," according to police.

Police from Englewood and canine teams from the Bergen County Police Department assisted at the scene, along with the county sheriff’s crime scene unit.

Check back for updates on the breaking news report.

First posted 9:30 a.m. Wednesday Last updated 12:40 p.m. 

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