Jersey City police charge 2 men in Van Wagenen Avenue shooting, report 27 gun-related arrests since Sept. 1

Nahzir Spencer, 18, in a photo released by the Jersey City Police Department. Photo: Jersey City Police Department

JERSEY CITY — Two men have been charged in connection with a Sept. 2 shooting on Van Wagenen Avenue that left a man wounded in the leg, and Jersey City police say officers have made 27 gun-related arrests since Sept. 1, according to a release from the city’s Department of Public Safety on Monday, Oct. 19.

Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose announced the numbers, the release said. (The department’s letterhead on the same release lists Ambrose as acting director of public safety.)

The Van Wagenen Avenue shooting

According to the release, the shooting happened at approximately 4:29 a.m. on Sept. 2 in the courtyard of 85-87 Van Wagenen Avenue, where a man was shot in the leg. The release did not give the man’s name, age or condition.

Police say detectives from the JCPD Cease Fire Unit used multiple investigative strategies to identify suspects and obtain arrest warrants. On Oct. 15, the JCPD Criminal Warrants Unit and the U.S. Marshals NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested two men, the release said.

Task force members located Nahzir Spencer, 18, at a residence in Newark and took him into custody without incident, police said. He is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Vernon Jenkins, 20, was apprehended shortly afterward at his residence on Van Wagenen Avenue in Jersey City, according to the release. He is charged with hindering apprehension.

Both men were processed and taken to the Hudson County Correctional Facility, police said. The release did not say whether either man has an attorney. Charges are accusations, and both men are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

“These arrests are the result of outstanding police work. Our officers are out there every day working to keep our residents safe, and our detectives are conducting thorough investigations to identify those responsible for bringing violence to our neighborhoods and bring them to justice,” Ambrose said in the release.

“Our detectives kept working this case until they had identified the suspects and secured arrest warrants,” Police Chief Robert Kearns said. “I want to thank them and the officers who located both men and took them into custody without incident.”

27 arrests, 13 guns

The release describes the people arrested as 8 juveniles and 19 adults. Police said 13 guns were recovered in connection with those arrests, including several semiautomatic handguns, a ghost gun, a Smith & Wesson handgun and a Retay RXP22 handgun that police records identify as defaced.

The release did not list the charges, dates or locations for the other arrests, or say where each gun was recovered. Its subheadline says Mayor James S. Solomon and the public safety director commended the Cease Fire Unit; the release did not include a statement from the mayor.

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