Federal authorities recovered an array of firearms, including three AR-15-style assault rifles, from a Monmouth County man after his phone number was found in the back pocket of one of the shooters in Jersey City earlier this week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Saturday.
Authorities said they found a handwritten note with a phone number in David Anderson’s right rear pocket after the 47-year-old and his partner, Francine Graham, 50, killed a Jersey City detective and then three civilians inside a kosher grocery store.
FBI officials determined that the number was connected to a Keyport address of a pawn shop owned by Ahmed A-Hady, 35, a convicted felon, authorities said.
On Friday, authorities interviewed A-Hady and two of his relatives.
A-Hady admitted owning two firearms, but denied they were in the pawn shop. However, one of the relatives consented to a search of a safe inside the pawn shop and authorities recovered a PK 380, a Ruger 9mm and a Smith and Wesson .44 caliber handgun, authorities said.
During a search of the pawn shop officers recovered six rifles, including three AR-15-style assault rifles, three handguns and one shotgun, authorities said. They also recovered over 400 rounds of ammunition, including a large number of hollow-point bullets, during the search of the shop and A-Hady’s home.
He is charged with being a previously convicted felon in possession of a firearm, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. A-Hady is expected to appear on Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Dickson in federal court in downtown Newark.
Law enforcement officials have said that Anderson and Graham were armed with an AR-15 style rifle and a shotgun as they fired a barrage of bullets during the deadly shootout Tuesday.
A-Hady is not charged in any role of providing the firearms to the shooters, a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman said.
No one answered the door of a listed address for A-Hady.
A-Hady’s brother told CBS2 New York that the pawn shop does not sell weapons and that he’s never seen the Jersey City shooters before.
NJ Advance Media reporter Jenna Wise contributed to this report.
Joe Atmonavage may be reached at jatmonavage@njadvancemedia.com. Follow on Twitter @monavage.
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