Four men have been arrested after allegedly staging a robbery and shootout with police at a New Jersey junkyard yesterday afternoon.
Authorities say that around 3 p.m., five suspects armed with an assault rifle and at least three handguns entered Bayway Scrap Metals at 645 Amboy Avenue, in Elizabeth, NJ. They allegedly tied up a number of employees in the shop's back room, including owners Carol Navarro and her 66-year-old husband, who they held at gunpoint for 90 minutes.
"One of them asked how long we were married," Carol Navarro told NBC News. "I told him 45 years, and he said, 'Well, you're going to die together." The couple's son told the Daily News that the suspects pistol-whipped his father.
The suspects are also accused of stealing over $250K in cash and expensive catalytic converters, which are made with precious metals. Cops say they threw their loot into a U-Haul and police officers caught up with them about two miles from the junkyard; when cops arrived, the suspects allegedly shot at them repeatedly, and police fired back. Eventually, officers say their car collided with the truck, and when the perpetrators tried to flee on foot, four of them were apprehended and arrested.
Officials say they recovered a bag of money along with weapons, which included an automatic rifle, a submachine gun and three handguns. Three junkyard employees were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries, along with two police officers involved in the shooting. The fifth suspect remains at large.
