One Person in Custody After Shots Fired Toward Homes on Butler's Washington Street

It was just before 3 a.m. Sunday when the call came in from Washington Street in Butler: shots fired toward homes. Before dawn, one person was in custody.

Butler police received the report at about 2:51 a.m. on Nov. 8, according to the Morris County Prosecutor's Office. Officers who responded saw the alleged shooter run into a wooded area, the prosecutor's office said.

That turned a late-night call into a search, with the Morris County Sheriff's Emergency Response Team brought in. While it went on, officers contacted one resident and safely escorted that person out of their home, the prosecutor's office said. For a stretch of the early morning, the person police were looking for was somewhere in those woods.

The search ended around 4:40 a.m., when one person was taken into custody, according to the prosecutor's office. No injuries were reported, and officials said there is "no known threat to the public."

Prosecutors later charged a 34-year-old Albuquerque, N.M., man with second-degree unlawful possession of a shotgun, third-degree criminal mischief and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. They said eight rounds struck vehicles and one home, and a shotgun and ammunition were recovered from the wooded area. No motive has been released. The charges are accusations, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Source: Morris County Prosecutor's Office; Butler Police Department. Originally reported by RLS Media, NorthJersey.com, WRNJ Radio, New Jersey 101.5 and Daily Voice.

Photo: Morris County Courthouse in Morristown. Bmzuckerman / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0, resized.