Joe Malinconico and Jai Agnish

Paterson Press and NorthJersey.com

PATERSON - A shooting inside a crowded club on Main Street left one person dead and six wounded early Sunday, just six hours after a man wanted on charges of attempted murder was shot to death in another part of the city, police said.

Authorities said there did not seem to be any connection between the two shootings. The incidents pushed the number of homicides in Paterson this year to 16 and the number of shootings to 37, putting the city months ahead of last year’s pace.

The multiple shooting at the illegal after-hours club at 86 Main St. happened at about 5:30 a.m., Police Director Jerry Speziale said. Police had an area in the front and the rear of the building cordoned off. A dirty white sign on the second floor of the building above a barber shop read "T.O.L. Studio."

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A trail of blood could be seen from the rear entrance to about 25 feet into the parking lot, where it ended. Cigarette butts littered the asphalt. Building windows were barred over and graffiti was sprayed on the rear of the building and a beat-up metal door.

Through the door to a darkly lighted hallway were bloodstains on the grimy floor where broken ceiling tile lay. The walls were punched in in places, over sky-blue paint waved across half the wall. A door at the end of the hall led to a set of stairs.

The identities of the victims have not been released. Police said a man was killed and that some of the people who were shot were from Paterson and some from outside the city.

Authorities have not disclosed details of what happened at the club or what they believe prompted the shooting. They have not said whether they think there was one shooter or more.

“We’re talking to witnesses now,” Capt. Richard Reyes said.

Reyes said investigators were not sure how many people were in the club at the time of the shooting. “We’re getting different numbers,” the captain said. “We know it was a small club with a lot of people in it.”

Four of the victims were taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center by ambulance, and two went there on their own, police said. One man was pronounced dead at the hospital, police said.

Speziale said police were called in for assistance at the hospital around 6 a.m. when a group of people associated with the victims were creating a disturbance. The response was called off while police were en route, he said.

The Paterson Police Department's detective unit and the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office are conducting the investigation.

Driss Mellouk was one of the local store owners walking around caution tape to try to get businesses open at 10 a.m. Mellouk has owned Best Family Discount across the street for four months and said this was the first time he had heard of something like this happening in the area.

"It's a good area," Mellouk said. "I have good neighbors here."

Larry Owens is a lifelong resident in his late 40s or 50s and grew up nearby. He said shootings were not common in the downtown area.

"This type of thing doesn't normally happen down here," Owens said. "They said that it's an illegal club or something. I had no idea. It's a decent neighborhood. It's downtown Paterson, and criminal activity like this is not a common thing."

When Owens first heard about the shooting he thought it might have been at the location of the nearby Beso Club Latin Ultra Lounge nearby on West Broadway.

Sonia Buchanan, who lives in Englewood and was shopping nearby, said she wasn't surprised by the bloodshed.

"This is Paterson," Buchanan said. "I'm not shocked. Even if I party or go to a club, I wouldn't come here to go to a club. I'd rather go to New York."

Separate shooting

Meanwhile, police announced the killing of a 20-year-old city man whom they had been looking for in connection with a shooting in the 4th Ward about three months ago. The man, Edward Andeliz, was found fatally wounded on the ground on the 200 block of 16th Avenue in the 5th Ward at about 11:45 p.m. on Saturday, police said.

Late in March, city police announced they were trying to find Andeliz on attempted murder charges in a March 1 shooting on 12th Avenue. Andeliz was killed before authorities were able to track him down, police said. Two years ago, Andeliz was arrested on gun possession and drug-dealing charges in the 12th Avenue area, authorities said.

Police are asking anyone with any information about either case to contact the Paterson detective bureau at 973-321-1120.

Email: Agnish@northjersey.com