Detective Jose Vargas and Officers Chazz Gonzalez, Francesca Vollaro and Kiril Sekulovski were searching for the car when people told the'd seen a man named "Manny" enter the North 3 Street house carrying a silver handgun and leave, Police Chief Richard H. Berdnik said.
Discovering that the second-floor apartment he'd entered was vacant, Vargas investigated.
Through the open door he could see a table with empty ziplocking bags, a scale and other drug parckaging materials -- along with the submachine gun, Berdnik said.
Vargas secured the firearm -- which held an extended magazine and hollow-point bullets -- rendered it safe, the sheriff said.
Several minutes later, "Manny" showed up.
"He froze and stutter-stepped as if he was going to run" but stayed and told Vargas he stayed in the second-floor apartment, Berdnik said.
He consented to a search, whic turned up two more guns, along with four bundles of packaged heroin and marijuana in heat-sealeted plastic bags, the sheriff said.
"Three guns off the streets, is a positive victory against street violence," Berdnik said.
A judge ordered Bush held without bail in the Passaic County Jail pending a bail hearing on drug and weapons offenses.
Additional charges were possible, the sheriff said.
Click here to follow Daily Voice South Passaic and receive free news updates.