A New Jersey hospital worker was arrested after police said they discovered multiple guns – including an assault rifle – and ammunition at the hospital while responding to a bomb threat.
On the afternoon of July 18, officers with the Secaucus Police Department arrived at Hudson Regional Hospital, less than five miles west of Manhattan, after authorities received a phone call that a bomb was in the hospital.
When officers swept the hospital, bomb-detecting dogs “gave a positive indication” on a closet in an office, police said in a news release. Police entered the closet and found “a large cache of rifles, shotguns and handguns, along with assorted ammunition for the firearms.”
Police said 11 handguns, 27 rifles/shotguns and a semi-automatic rifle with high-capacity magazine, later determined to be an assault rifle, were recovered. An additional 14 rounds of high-capacity handgun magazines were discovered.
Authorities said 46-year-old Reuven Alonalayoff was arrested Sunday at Newark Liberty International Airport with assistance from the US Department of Homeland Security Investigations. Alonalayoff, who police said was the marketing director of the hospital, was charged with possession of an assault firearm and two counts of possession of a high-capacity magazine.
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Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller said he was thankful for the situation “was resolved without anyone being harmed.”
“The unsecured storage of a large cache of weaponry, especially in this location, certainly creates a risk to public safety,” Miller said.
Authorities did not disclose how Alonalayoff got the weapons or how he got them into the closet.
Hudson Regional Hospital didn’t immediately respond to questions from USA TODAY about Alonalayoff’s job status.
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