An Egg Harbor City couple, who are parents of six children, are suing after a group of officers allegedly raided their home with their guns drawn before soon realizing they were at the wrong address.

Shortly before 6:30 a.m. March 30, 2017, as Carla Weldon was walking out of her second-floor bedroom, officers “dressed in all black, wearing puffy vests” entered her Cincinnati Avenue apartment, yelling: “Police, police. Put your hands up!” according to the lawsuit.

About six officers rushed up the stairs to where Weldon and her partner, Troy Sessoms, were standing. Two of the officers allegedly had their guns drawn.

A few of the children were on the couch waiting for the school bus to come at the time, the suit says. Weldon “saw guns pointed in the direction of her children” when she came down the stairs with her hands up, according to the lawsuit.

According to a story in the Press of Atlantic City shortly after the incident, at least 10 officers entered the home.

Weldon and Sessoms are biological parents to two of the children, while the other four are foster children. Their ages ranged from 1 to 15 years old at the time.

During the “chaos and confusion of the police raid,” one of the officers, according to the lawsuit, became upset and cursed at Weldon, asking her why one of the second-floor doors was locked. The door had been locked by accident, according to the lawsuit, and one of the officers allegedly broke down and damaged the door.

In the living room, all the children except the 1-year-old were “crying hysterically.” The officers soon began mentioning a name that no one in the home knew.

Quickly thereafter, according to the lawsuit, “officers came to the realization that they had raided the wrong residence.”

One of the officers then offered to walk a few of the children to the bus stop, according to the lawsuit.

“I was so scared. I was asking them, ‘What’s going on?’” Weldon told the Press of Atlantic City at the time.

According to the lawsuit, the officers did not have a search warrant for the residence, and Weldon and Sessoms did not consent to them coming in the home, but the officers told them they did “because the door was open.”

The officers then allegedly tried to gain entry into a neighbor’s apartment, but were denied by the resident because they did not have a search warrant, according to the lawsuit.

In the days after the plaintiffs said their home was raided illegally, Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner announced the arrests of multiple suspects on narcotics and firearms violations as a result of raids and arrests performed on March 30 after a joint investigation among law enforcement agencies across the state.

The alleged leader of the drug trafficking network, Kenneth Burrell, lived a short distance from Weldon and Sessoms, according to the lawsuit. He was sentenced in May 2018 to 24 years in prison on firearms and narcotics charges.

Because Tyner’s office made the announcement, implying they led the investigation, the lawsuit named him and the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office.

However, because the officers never identified themselves, Weldon and Sessoms are suing a host of law enforcement agencies in the region that were involved in the joint investigation as stated by Tyner’s office in a news release at the time of Burrell’s arrest. That includes: Atlantic County Sheriff’s office, Ocean County Sheriff’s office, New Jersey state troopers, police officers of the Pleasantville, Galloway, Atlantic City, Egg Harbor City, Egg Harbor Township and Mullica police departments, and “other law enforcement agencies.”

The seven-count lawsuit that includes allegations of trespassing, assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress was filed in Atlantic County Superior Court on March 25.

Louis Shapiro, the attorney for the couple, declined to comment on the lawsuit. Tyner also declined to comment.

Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com. Follow on Twitter @monavage. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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