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An inside look at the issues facing the City of Paterson. Michael V. Pettigano, NorthJersey

PATERSON — A sawed-off shotgun was stashed in a Nike gym bag next to an abandoned building, a handgun inside a toilet tank discarded near a street corner, a rifle covered in the brush near railroad tracks.

These weapons — authorities call them “community guns,” weapons hidden by drug dealers and gang members who want easy access to firearms — were among 76 seized by law enforcement officers in Passaic County in a 2012 sting.

Since then, authorities have confiscated roughly 150 firearms per year in Paterson, but the gun epidemic continues to plague the city, a problem underscored by the shooting earlier this month that involved two 13-year-olds. One boy, K’Zure Credle, was killed on Oct. 6 by a gunshot to the back of his head and another was arrested Oct. 24 on juvenile delinquency charges comparable to aggravated manslaughter.

“Our kids have too much easy access to guns,” said Zellie Thomas, an elementary school teacher and leader of the city’s Black Lives Matter group.

Community leaders in Paterson said gun traffickers manage to replenish the city’s gun supply despite law enforcement’s ongoing efforts to confiscate the weapons.

“I think there’s a gun market where people from the outside are targeting places like Paterson and Newark and selling guns here,” said Councilman Michael Jackson. “A 13-year-old can’t go to New York or someplace and buy a gun. They’re being brought here.”

The Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office said the suspect, whose name has not been released because of his age, fired the gun accidentally. But authorities have not said how they believe the youth obtained the weapon.

Bial Hakeem, of Paterson’s Elombe Brath Power coalition, said one of his friends became so alarmed by the 13-year-old’s homicide that she searched her 15-year-old son’s bedroom. The woman found a loaded handgun that she turned over to authorities, he said.

“This gun situation in Paterson is real,” Hakeem said. “Guns are ending up in the hands of children younger and younger.”

Several Paterson activists said too often children in the neighborhoods know where drug dealers and gangs hide their community guns.

“These are children we’re talking about. They shouldn’t be aware of community guns. We have to do something,” said Sylvia Farrar, who has participated for years in Paterson’s Cease-Fire community group.

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“This should shake up the community,” Farrar added, referring to Credle’s death. “Hopefully it gets people to do something.”

The Cease-Fire group held its monthly meeting on Thursday night, hours after authorities announced the arrest of the unnamed 13-year-old. During the gathering, Paterson resident Walter Staton said he was alarmed over what he called “a rash of violence in our city of teenagers on teenagers.”

“It used to be that adults in gangs would take over neighborhood territory,” Staton said. “Now you see 13- and 14-year olds standing on the street corners. The adults stay in the background so they won’t be noticed. We have to do more to get into the communities and the schools to talk with these kids.” 

Cease-Fire members stressed the need to reach young people who are “falling through the cracks.” The Rev. Allan Boyer, the Cease-Fire group’s leader, said Paterson would benefit from something like a Scared Straight program that has at-risk youths visit prison inmates. 

“I used to be a chaplain, and we would take kids who were in trouble to the Essex County Jail,” Boyer said. “The kids would see the environment of the jail and talk with inmates. It proved to be an eye-opener for them.” 

Credle’s death came just days after federal authorities announced the arrests of 17 young men in a crackdown against Paterson’s 230 Boys, one of several recent law enforcement operations targeting the city’s street gangs.

 “There are new guys out on the streets,” Boyer said. “The older ones are getting locked up. There is a new wave of youths, ages 13 to 17, out there who are not accountable. … A lot of kids are in the masses and are not in any type of youth group. They are lost and are then found by older gang members. Then, they become totally lost.”    

Casey Melvin, of the Paterson Brothers organization, said officials are trying to address the city’s violence problem with “superficial” initiatives that he said don’t have any “meaningful impact.”

Melvin said he was shocked when he heard about the fatal shooting involving the 13-year-olds, but not surprised. He cited the 2014 fatal shootings of 12-year-old Genesis Rincon and 14-year-old Nazerah Bugg as tragic precedents for Credle’s death. He warned that there may be others in the future.

“We’ve had it happen before,” Melvin said. “To some extent, I can’t see it not happening again unless we have a major intervention.”

Email: editor@patersonpress.com

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