JERSEY CITY — Police breaking up a gang meetup recovered four loaded handguns from a car parked in a city housing complex, authorities said.
Members of the Jersey City Gang Task Force were working at Marion Gardens at about 11 p.m. on Monday night when they received a tip that a group of armed gang members planned to meet at the housing complex, according to a police report.
A blue Acura drove into the parking lot on the south side of the complex and 23-year-old Quashawn Tatum, of Myrtle Avenue, approached the SUV on his bicycle. The driver, 28-year-old Markell Brown, of Boswtick Avenue, got out of the vehicle and was holding something inside his jacket, the report states.
Brown walked toward the unmarked car, and police became “concerned that he was holding and concealing a weapon.” The officers got out of their car, identified themselves as cops, and Brown walked back toward the SUV, the report states.
Tatum got back on his bicycle and tried to flee, but he was arrested a short time later, police said.
Brown initially refused to put his hands in the air, and when he finally got down on the ground he started to “yell for his mother” and his “confederates” started gathering in the area, the report states.
Meanwhile, two other people — Tarqis Gathers, 20, of Belmont Avenue and Frances Davis, 24, of Myrtle Avenue — were sitting inside the car.
Officers went up to the car and saw two boxes of bullets sitting in the back seat. Gathers was sitting in the front seat “acting extremely nervous.” Davis was sitting in the back seat and both were ordered out of the car, police said.
The officers searched the car and found four loaded handguns and four loose magazines in the glove compartment, the report states.
Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said Tatum was charged with resisting arrest and obstruction. Brown, Gathers, and Davis were each charged with four counts of possession for an unlawful purpose.
Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
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