2 Men Are Charged In Robbery At Route 17 Business That Led To Chase, Shooting

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — Two men have been arrested in a July armed robbery that took place on Route 17, leading to a car chase and shooting on Route 80, prosecutors said.

Shaheem A. Clark, 19, of Elmwood Park, and Jaquil M. Brown, 29, of Paterson, have been charged with armed robbery and weapons charges, said the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.

Prosecutors said that on Sunday, July 21, around 11:24 p.m., Lodi police and the New Jersey State Police responded to an armed robbery.

Prosecutors say that after a group of friends exited a Route 17 business in Lodi that night and got into their car, someone who was on foot came up to the car, pulled open a door, demanded an expensive watch a passenger was wearing, and hit the victim in the head with a handgun. The person then grabbed the watch, got into a waiting vehicle, and fled, prosecutors say.

The car containing the victim then chased the suspects' car onto Route 80 in Paramus, prosecutors said. The fleeing suspects fired a gun back at the victims' car, prosecutors said.

The gunshots shattered the windshield, so the victims pulled over on Route 80 and called 911, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors allege that Brown was the driver and Clark was in the passenger seat.

On Thursday, July 25, 2024, Brown was arrested and charged with first-degree armed robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, weapons charges and receiving stolen properly. He was taken to Bergen County Jail and detained following a hearing.

Last Wednesday, Aug. 28, detectives learned that Clark was in the Hudson County jail on an unrelated matter. He was charged with first-degree attempted murder, first-degree armed robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and weapons charges.

He remains in the Hudson County Jail "pending resolution of an incomplete and unrelated criminal case that is still underway," prosecutors said.