Shots Fired in Belleville, Arrests Made in Bloomfield

A police chase that began in Newark ended on Fairway Avenue around 1 a.m. this morning, when a number of suspects were arrested where the long street dead-ends behind Glendale Cemetery in Bloomfield. Several gunshots were fired after the suspects exited their vehicle and attempted to flee the scene on foot, according to witnesses.

At least three Newark police cruisers were at the scene this morning, along with an ambulance from the Belleville Fire Department, Bloomfield and Belleville police, including the town's chief of police, Joseph Rotonda. The Essex County K-9 unit also responded to the scene, witnesses said.   

Residents heard a vehicle speeding rapidly down the wide, residential street near the Bloomfield line, followed a few seconds later by police cars with their sirens running.

“I heard a car bottom out [at a dip in the street],” Dawson Bloom, a resident of the street and former member of the Belleville Board of Education, told Patch. “He must have been going fast.”

A short time later, Bloom and other witnesses heard what sounded to them like “firecrackers.”

“I didn’t know what it was until I heard the cops yelling ‘Shots fired,’” Bloom said.

Witnesses said they saw police immediately capture two men who had attempted to run and catch another man who had gone towards a nearby apartment complex. Another witness, Mauro De Oliveira, led K-9 officers to the entrance of the Forest Hill golf course in Bloomfield, where other suspects were believed to have fled. Police were also seen searching yards along the street.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.