Essex County authorities are assisting Montclair Police in an investigation into a shooting that left a man critically injured on a street in the city Tuesday afternoon.
According to a statement released by police, at approximately 2 p.m., residents dialed 911 after hearing gunfire near Union Gardens apartments on Greenwood Place around 2 p.m.
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Police said when officers arrived at the scene, they found a severely injured 30-year-old man from Montclair lying on the ground suffering multiple bullet wounds.
Officials said that the victim was rushed to University Hospital, where he remains in critical condition.
Police say a person matching a description of the shooter was soon located by police and taken into custody and another suspect who police was involved in the shooting was captured a short time later.
Residents in the area say there has been an escalation of criminal drug activity and loitering near the NJ Transit train tracks, which are in the areas of Glenridge Avenue, Claremont Avenue, Forest Street, Greenwood Place, North Willow Street and Walnut Street.
Montclair Police were joined The Essex County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit for a search of weapons, which were recovered according to police.
Officials said the violent shooting is isolated and was a dispute between the victim and the suspects, but Montclair Police officials would not sat if the incident was a neighborhood drug deal gone wrong.
The investigation is in its early stages,