Mediaboss Marketing

Joe Malinconico, Tariq Zehawi and Nicholas Katzban| Paterson Press and NorthJersey.com

Raw Video: Fatal shooting at a home in Paterson

Raw Video: Fatal shooting at a home on Redwood Avenue in Paterson on Nov. 15, 2021

Tariq Zehawi, NorthJersey.com

PATERSON A man and a woman suffered fatal gunshot wounds in what prosecutors are saying appears to have been ahomicide and suicide on Redwood Avenueon Monday morning, multiple public officials said.

The Passaic County Prosecutor's Office said Paterson police responded to the home on Redwood Avenue at about 7:15 a.m. to find the bodies of33-year-old Chacquese Barnesand her significant other, 34-year-old Julius McCutcheon, both residents of the city.

Investigators determined that McCutcheon appeared to have shot Barnes before taking his own life, prosecutors said.

The incident apparently stemmed from a domestic dispute, according tolaw enforcement sources.

While the investigation remains ongoing, prosecutors assured residents there is no threat to the community.

The killing raises the number of homicides in Paterson this year to 26. In 2020, Paterson endured its highest number of homicides in more than 30 years, with 27 people killed in the city.

Paterson Police Department Crime Scene Investigation was at the scene, and police blocked off the street between Doremus Street and Crosby Avenue. Medical examiners were also there.

Law enforcement sources and people who knew the victims said two children lived in the apartment with the couple a boy who is about 10 years old and a girl about 1.

Authorities said the children were not physically injured in the incident. Officials would not say exactly where the children were when the shootings happened. Authorities would not say who the children's parents were, but people who knew the victims said the deceased woman was their mother.

A man who described himself as a cousin of one of the victims said the woman was pregnant at the time she was killed.

"They were good people," said one neighbor who declined to give her name. "We don't know what happened."

Another woman who lived across the street from the crime scene said she often saw the two victims together in the summer. "This block is really quiet," the neighbor said. "We don't have this kind of commotion here."

Councilwoman Lilisa Mimms said she knew the couple through a mutual acquaintance.

"He was a hard worker and a very nice guy," Mimms said. "I'm shocked."

Law enforcement sources said there had been previous calls for police to come to the apartment because of domestic disputes. Sources said it appeared that the man shot the woman first and then turned the gun on himself.

While police were at the scene, a dispute erupted between people connected to the man and others associated with the woman, authorities said. Several people involved in the altercations were placed in handcuffs, sources said. Details were not available on whether anyone was charged with crimes involving those disputes.

A man was tackled by police andhandcuffed after he was seen pulling off his shirt and screaming that his brother was inside the house and hadjust gotten shot.

North Jersey crime: 'In a hurricane': Bergen killings underscore spike in domestic violence amid pandemic

Officials said an unusually high number of this year's homicides involved domestic disputes, which they attributed to tensions caused by the COVID pandemic.

Domestic violence has been linked to several homicides in North Jersey this fall, including the cases ofan Elmwood Park man allegedly killed by his ax-wielding grandson in mid-Octoberand a Washington Township woman allegedly stabbed to death by her live-in boyfriend later in the month.

The Passaic County Prosecutors Office urges anyone with information about the deaths to contact its tips line at 1 (877) 370-PCPO or tips@passaiccountynj.org, or contact the Paterson Police Detective Bureau at (973) 321-1120.

Check back for more on this developing story.

See the rest here:
Two dead in apparent homicide and suicide in Paterson shooting - NorthJersey.com