NEWARK
- The Attorney General’s Shooting Response
Team is conducting an investigation into the
circumstances surrounding a shooting incident
involving New Jersey State Police detectives
that occurred in Newark about 4:30 p.m. yesterday
as the detectives arrested four suspects in
a narcotics investigation.
According
to the preliminary investigation, four State
Police detectives assigned to the Metro North
Team as part of the Irvington Violent Crime
Task Force were working on a narcotics investigation
with an Irvington police officer when they
observed four occupants of a Chevy Malibu
engaged in a narcotics transaction near the
intersection of Clinton and Badger Avenues
in Newark. After the transaction, the officers,
who were positioned nearby, arrested one suspect
who had exited the Malibu. That suspect, later
identified as Leonard Sanders, was in possession
of 50 bags of suspected heroin. At the same
time, the officers moved to surround the Malibu
and ordered the occupants to exit the vehicle.
The driver, later identified as Reynold McZorn,
accelerated the Malibu in reverse, striking
an undercover police vehicle. State Police
Detective Tyrone Coronato, who was positioned
on the driver side of the Malibu, fired a
single round from his service weapon, striking
McZorn in the left arm. The three occupants
of the vehicle were then arrested without
further incident. McZorn was transported to
University Hospital in Newark, where he was
treated and later released to police custody.
McZorn,
28, of Newark, was charged with aggravated
assault, resisting arrest, eluding, and possession
of a weapon for an unlawful purpose (the vehicle).
In addition, all four men, McZorn, Sanders,
25, of Elizabeth, and the two other men arrested
– Shakir Phelps, 27, and Antwon Phelps,
25, both of Newark – were charged with
conspiracy, possession of heroin, possession
of heroin with intent to distribute, possession
of heroin within 1,000 feet of a school, and
possession of heroin within 500 feet of a
park. They are being held in the Essex County
Jail, McZorn in lieu of $100,000 bail, and
the other three men in lieu of $75,000 bail
each.
The
incident remains under investigation by the
Attorney General’s Shooting Response
Team. Under an Attorney General Directive,
the Shooting Response Team, made up of deputy
attorneys general, detectives of the Division
of Criminal Justice and detectives of the
State Police Major Crime Unit, are dispatched
to the scene to handle investigations of such
incidents. The Essex County Prosecutor’s
Office is assisting in the ongoing investigation.
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