While toy guns are made with orange tips to differentiate them from real ones, they’re sometimes altered, often easily, with black markers or paint to make them look real. This dangerous practice could easily lead a reasonable police officer to mistakenly believe a fake weapon is anything but fake. So when a teenager recently cavorted around TJ Maxx in Lyndhurst with such a toy gun exposed in his waistband, it could have easy led to tragedy.
Instead, excellent police work led to the recovery of the fake weapon — and the youngster who possessed the ‘weapon’ was apprehended by the Lyndhurst Police Department.
Here’s how it all went down, according to Public Information Officer Capt. Paul Haggerty.
On Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025, at approximately 2:10 p.m., the Lyndhurst Police Department received a 911 call reporting a male walking with an exposed firearm in his waistband near the TJ Maxx, located in the Towne Centre Shopping Plaza, 421 Valley Brook Ave.
Upon arrival, officers could not initially locate the suspect. With the help of a resilient eyewitness, they directed the responding officers moments later, where they observed the suspect enter a parked vehicle. The vehicle was occupied just outside of the AT&T store, a few businesses to the west of TJ Maxx, in the same shopping plaza.
Sgt. Richard Jasinski and Officers Robert Litterio, Michael A. Carrino and Vincent Dorio converged on the vehicle and made contact with its occupants.
The investigation by the responding officers led to their locating the suspect, who was identified as a juvenile.
The juvenile was in fact found to be in possession of a toy replica Glock pistol, which was located in a holster within his waistband. Furthermore, and most concerning, the orange safety tip on the toy Glock pistol had been altered with what appeared to be black marker.
“We are grateful for the outcome of this incident, as it could have ended tragically for a multitude of reasons,” Haggerty said.
Mayor and Public Safety Commissioner Robert B. Giangeruso and Chief Richard L. Jarvis Jr. commended the eyewitness for stepping up and taking action. The witness not only made the 911 call, they remained on scene to direct the responding officers.
Mayor Giangeruso continues to urge the public — see something? Say something.
“This incident was a prime example of just that,” Chief Jarvis said. “I commend the responding officers for using sound tactics in mitigating an incident that had the potential of ending tragically. This incident serves as an urgent reminder for parents to monitor their children and use better judgement in purchasing toys that resemble actual firearms.”
The juvenile, meanwhile, was released from the scene following juvenile-delinquency procedures. Det. Joseph White investigated. Additionally, police say they learned the “toy” Glock was easily purchased on a popular e-commerce website Temu.com and similar toy pistols may be found on other sites such as Amazon.com. Once legally purchased, these toys can effortlessly be converted into authentic-looking firearms.
On Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, the youngster was charged on a juvenile-delinquency complaint with possession of an imitation firearm.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.