Gun pointed at cops on Route 287 … again … police say

State Police say someone pointed a gun at a New Jersey police officer during a pursuit for the second time within a week on Sunday.

Theron Brown, 22, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, refused to stop for a trooper trying to pull over his Jeep Cherokee for a traffic violation on northbound Route 287 near the exit for Route 202 in Boonton around 11:10 a.m., according to State Police spokesman Charles Marchan.

Tyree Newell, 20, of Bridgeport, leaned out the window and pointed a handgun at the trooper, causing the trooper to take evasive action and hit the concrete barrier in the median, Marchan said.

Marchan said the trooper pursued the Jeep for 22 miles on Route 287, during which Newell threw the gun and other objects out the window as the vehicles headed onto Route 17 southbound and then onto Route 202. The pair abandoned the Jeep in the area of Continental Soldier Field across from the campus of Ramapo College, and ran on foot before being taken into custody by Mahwah police and State Police, Marchan said.

Police found four 9mm handguns in the area of the interchange with Routes 287 and 17 just south of the New York state border, State Police said.

Newell was charged with aggravated assault, four counts each of unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, tampering with evidence, hindering plus possession of hollow point ammunition, and possession of a high-capacity magazine.

Brown was charged with four counts of unlawful possession of a weapon with a prior conviction, four counts of unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of hollow-point ammunition, possession of a high-capacity magazine, certain persons not to possess a firearm, and eluding.

Newell and Brown held at the Hudson County Jail pending a bail detention hearing.

Lakisha Maldonado, 30, of Leeds, Alabama, led police on chase from Skyline Drive in Ringwood and then north on Route 287 on Wednesday morning, authorities say. State Police said that as a Ridgewood police officer approached Maldonado's broken-down SUV, she fired three rounds from a handgun. None of the officers were shot.

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