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Probe of Jersey City shooting leads FBI to arrest pawn shop owner on weapons charge

The FBI on Saturday arrested a pawnshop owner on a weapons charge after investigators said they found a note with his phone number and business address on one of the gunmen in the deadly shooting at a kosher grocery in Jersey City last week.

In this Dec. 10, 2019 photo, Jersey City police Sgt. Marjorie Jordan, right, helps fellow officer Raymond Sanchez to safety after he was shot during a gunfight that left multiple dead in Jersey City, N.J. The two killers were armed with a variety of weapons, including an AR-15-style rifle and a shotgun that they were wielding when they stormed into a store in an attack that left the scene littered with several hundred shell casings, broken glass and a community in mourning. Despite years of New Jersey officials focusing on the problems of crime guns coming into the state, Tuesday's shooting shows efforts are falling short. (Justin Moreau via AP)
In this Dec. 10, 2019 photo, Jersey City police Sgt. Marjorie Jordan, right, helps fellow officer Raymond Sanchez to safety after he was shot during a gunfight that left multiple dead in Jersey City, N.J. The two killers were armed with a variety of weapons, including an AR-15-style rifle and a shotgun that they were wielding when they stormed into a store in an attack that left the scene littered with several hundred shell casings, broken glass and a community in mourning. Despite years of New Jersey officials focusing on the problems of crime guns coming into the state, Tuesday's shooting shows efforts are falling short. (Justin Moreau via AP)Read moreJustin Moreau / AP
    by Derek Hawkins, Washington Post
    Published 

The FBI on Saturday arrested a pawnshop owner on a weapons charge after investigators said they found a note with his phone number and business address on one of the gunmen in the deadly shooting at a kosher grocery in Jersey City last week.

Searches of Ahmed A-Hady's home and store in Keyport, New Jersey, turned up a cache of ammunition and guns, including three "AR-15-style assault rifles" similar to one of the weapons used in the attack, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

Officials did not definitively link A-Hady to the shooting but said the searches were "connected to one of the perpetrators."

The 35-year-old was charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and was slated to appear before a judge in Newark on Monday. Attorney information for A-Hady was not immediately available.

The arrest broadens the web of possible connections authorities are examining as they investigate the Dec. 10 shooting rampage, which officials are treating as a potential act of domestic terrorism and a targeted attack on Jersey City's Jewish community. Authorities said the two gunmen expressed interest in the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, a collection of groups unaffiliated with mainstream Judaism whose members often preach anti-Semitism.

The assailants began the attack at a cemetery in the southwest part of Jersey City, fatally shooting a veteran police detective, then stormed the nearby JC Kosher Supermarket, gunning down the owner, an employee and a customer.

After an hours-long gun battle with police, the bodies of the shooters - David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50 - were found among the wreckage.

The pair were armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, two semiautomatic handguns, a .22 caliber handgun and an AR-15 rifle. Officials said Graham legally purchased the .22 caliber handgun and the shotgun in Ohio in 2018, but they did not disclose how she and Anderson obtained the other weapons.

At the scene, investigators found a handwritten note in Anderson's back pocket containing a phone number and an address for a Keyport pawnshop, according to the complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

The FBI quickly traced the information back to A-Hady. After interviewing him and two of his relatives, agents searched his store and house, finding six rifles, a shotgun and three handguns, according to the complaint. They also allegedly found 400 rounds of ammunition, including a "large number" of hollow point bullets.

Prosecutors said A-Hady had legally purchased one of the handguns, a .44 caliber Smith and Wesson, in June 2007, but was no longer allowed to own firearms because of a 2012 drug-related conviction. During his interview, they said, A-Hady "admitted to owning" that gun and another weapon "but falsely denied that they were on the premises."

A-Hady faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.