Assault rifle brandished during Route 202 road rage, cops say

An assault rifle and a high capacity 30 round magazine were found in a car that had been involved in a Route 202 road-rage incidents on Sunday afternoon, police said.

Police said a weapon was brandished during the road rage about 4 p.m. in Readington.

A Branchburg police officer stopped the car and ordered the three occupants out. That's when officers said they saw a Sig Sauer AR-15 rifle along with the magazine loaded with 5.56 mm ammo in plain view.

Robert Figueroa,19, of Whitehall, Pennsylvania; Axel Rafael Colon Merly, 18 of Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Miguel Angel Otero Journet, 19 of Bear, Delaware, were charged with second-degree unlawful possession of an assault firearm, third-degree terroristic threats and fourth-degree possession of a high-capacity magazine.

At a detention hearing Thursday in Somerset County, a Superior Court judge released Journet and Merly but held Figueroa, who is accused of brandishing the weapon at a traffic light in Hunterdon County, according to a MyCentralJersey.com report.

Figueroa's attorney argued that possession of an assault rifle is lawful in Pennsylvania and his client was unaware they are prohibited in New Jersey, according to MyCentralJersey.com.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ