KEARNY –
Kearny police are now working with Newark law enforcement to identify and apprehend three men sought in armed holdups in both communities. In the Newark incident, the victim was shot and wounded, police said.
The initial crime was reported at 3 a.m. June 21, when KPD Officers Mike Santucci and Thomas Floyd responded to the Jersey Truck Stop at Rts. 1 and 9 and Hackensack Ave. in South Kearny.
The victim, who had been pistol-whipped and suffered a head injury, was a 48-year-old New York State truck driver who had stopped to refuel his vehicle. Police said a gray car pulled up next to him, and three black males, two armed with handguns, exited, struck the trucker with the butt of one gun, pushed him back into his cab and took $185 from him.
They then fled over the Hackensack River bridge, in the direction of Jersey City.
Shortly after that, “they must have made a U-turn,” said KPD Chief John Dowie, because Newark then reported a similar vehicle and similar suspects involved in the robbery of a trucker on Rt. 21. That victim was shot, police said.
Kearny Det. Michael Gonzalez is working the case with the Newark Police Department Robbery Squad.
– Karen Zautyk
