PATERSON — In the city’s sixth homicide in October, a man was fatally shot at about 3 a.m. Sunday morning near the parking lot of the Food Fair supermarket on Market Street, near East 36th Street, authorities said.
The outbreak of October killings — all in separate shooting incidents — represents Paterson’s worst month for homicides in more than three years.
Authorities have not yet identified the man who was killed in Sunday’s shooting, according to the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office. He was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle and was subsequently pronounced deceased. A second gunshot victim, a 32-year-old Paterson man, was wounded multiple times in the incident and is in stable condition at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center, authorities said.
Authorities have released no other details about the shooting.
The last time six people were killed in Paterson in one month was July 2020, when the deaths included four people gunned down in one shooting at the corner of Carroll and Governor streets, according to a database compiled by the Gun Violence Archive nonprofit group.
Prior to 2020, Paterson also endured six homicides in Sept. 2016.
Sunday’s killing raises Paterson’s homicide total for the year 15. At this point in 2022, the city had 22 homicides.
Even though the number of homicides this month has spiked, shootings overall are down compared to Oct. 2022. There have been seven shooting incidents this month, with a total of 12 fatal and nonfatal victims. At this point in Oct. 2022, there were 12 shootings incidents and a total of 16 fatal and nonfatal victims, officials said.
Mayor Andre Sayegh has been engaged in an ongoing dispute with state officials over the recent spike in crime in Paterson which has taken place during Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s takeover of the city police department. But state officials repeatedly have pointed out that despite the October outbreak, violent crime in the city has been down during state control of the Paterson police.
Sayegh issued a statement on Sunday that noted homicides were down during the first three months of the year, prior to the state intervention.
“We worked hard to drive down homicides by 66% before the state takeover,” the mayor said. “Now this month alone, there’s been a 300% increase in murders over last October. Residents are reaching out to me and saying that they don’t feel safer with Matt Platkin in Paterson.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Six people have been killed in Paterson, the deadliest month in years