A man has been arrested in connection to a New Jersey shooting that left six dead, including the shooters, after his phone number was discovered on one of the suspected gunmen.
The FBI arrested Ahmed A-Hady, 35, on Saturday after finding his contact information on one of the suspected shooters who opened fire on a Jewish market in Jersey City on Tuesday. He was charged with unlawfully possessing a firearm as a previously convicted felon.
Both suspected shooters, David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50, were found dead after a shootout with police. They killed four people, including a police officer, before succumbing to their wounds. The murders are being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism, and police believe the kosher deli was “targeted.” They also found that at least one of the gunmen had posted anti-Semitic messages online.
Authorities described a handwritten note found in the back pocket of Anderson that contained the phone number for A-Hady, as well as the address for a pawn shop about 35 miles away from the location of the shooting. A-Hady was convicted of attempting to obtain a controlled dangerous substance or analog by fraud in 2012, which banned him from owning firearms. Several handguns and rifles were discovered at the pawnshop, including “a large number of hollow-point bullets.”
The link between A-Hady and the shooters was not immediately known. They fatally shot N.J. police Detective Joseph Seals in a cemetery before their rampage at the deli. The detective reportedly recognized them as suspects in the killing of an Uber driver the previous weekend.
The shooters appear to have acted alone but did express interest in the Black Hebrew Israelites religious group, which is known to disparage against Jewish and white people.
