By: Richard L. Smith
Two Paterson men have been arrested months apart in connection with a violent shooting that left two men injured in March 2024, authorities confirmed.
According to information released by the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office, the incident occurred around 2:17 a.m. on March 18, 2024, when Paterson police responded to a report of gunfire near 20th Avenue and East 33rd Street. 
Officers arrived to find two male victims—aged 27 and 43, both Paterson residents—suffering from non-fatal gunshot wounds.
Both were transported to St. Joseph’s University Medical Center for treatment. Police also located a potential crime scene in the area.
Following a lengthy investigation led by the Paterson Police Department’s Shooting Investigation Unit, authorities identified Shaheem Clark, 20, and Jakahri Smith, 22, as suspects in the case.
Clark was arrested without incident on August 8, 2024, in Elmwood Park, near Mola Boulevard and 16th Avenue.
Smith was later apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Service on March 19, 2025, in Lynn, Massachusetts, near Walnut and Sterling Streets.
Investigators allege that Clark and Smith were not only involved in the shooting but also committed a kidnapping and carjacking during the same incident.
As a result, both men are now facing a long list of serious charges.
Clark is charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, carjacking (all first-degree offenses), as well as multiple weapons and drug offenses, including unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, possession of a high-capacity magazine, drug distribution, and possession of a firearm during a drug offense.
Smith faces similar charges, including attempted murder, kidnapping, carjacking, unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and being a certain person not permitted to possess a weapon due to prior convictions.
The investigation remains ongoing.