NJ Pawn Shop Owner Arrested With Weapons Amid Shooting Probe

KEYPORT — A Keyport pawn shop owner, whose name was found on a piece of paper in Jersey City shooting suspect David Anderson’s pocket, was arrested on Saturday after a search of his business turned up nearly a dozen weapons, US Attorney General Craig Carpenito announced.

Anderson, 47, along with Francis Graham died after firing shots at the JC Kosher Supermarket in Jersey City on Tuesday, Dec. 10. The shootout also claimed the lives of three victims — store co-owner, Mindy Ferencz, 31, her 24-year-old cousin, Moshe Deutsch, and 49-year-old Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, a store employee.

US Attorney General Craig Carpenito said investigators found a note in Anderson's pants pocket with a phone number ending in 4115 and a Keyport address. They traced the phone number to 35-year-old Ahmed A-Hady of Keyport. The address was the Buy N Sell City pawn shop.

A-Hady was convicted in Monmouth County Superior Court of a drug-related offense in April 2012. As a result of that conviction, A-Hady is no longer permitted to possess a firearm.

Carpenito said A-Hady told investigators during an interview on Friday that two Smith and Wesson handguns he had purchased in 2007 prior to his convictions were not at his home. A relative told investigators there was a safe inside the pawn shop with weapons; during a search the two shot guns were located along with three firearms, according to Carpenito.

Investigators searching the pawn shop found six rifles, including three AR-15-style assault rifles, three handguns, and one shotgun, Carpenito said. In addition, during the searches of the pawnshop and A-Hady’s private residence, law enforcement recovered over 400 rounds of ammunition, including a large number of hollow point bullets.

No direct connection was made Sunday by Carpenito between A-Hady and the Jersey City shooting.

Attorney General Grubir Grewal previously said five weapons were recovered from the Dec. 10 scene at the supermarket in Jersey City: an "AR-style weapon" fired by Anderson as he entered the store and a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun believed to be carried by Graham as she entered. Investigators recovered another two pistols inside the store, Grewal said.

Inside the U-haul driven by Anderson and Graham, he said, authorities found a .22 Ruger Mark 4 with a homemade silencer and a homemade device to catch shell casings.

Using serial numbers, the Mossberg and the Mark 4 were traced to a purchase by Graham at separate gun shops in Ohio in spring 2018, Grewal said.

Earlier, the FBI recovered a van that may be connected to the Jersey City shootings in Orange. It was not clear how the van may be linked to the attack, and the FBI did not release further details.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report