Teen charged in Newark cop’s murder was firing a ghost gun with device that converted it into ‘world’s smallest machine gun’

The 14-year-old boy who allegedly shot and killed Newark, N.J., Detective Joseph Azcona  in a barrage of 29 bullets used a ghost gun with a device that turned it into “the world’s smallest machine gun,” a source told  The Post.

Machine gun conversion devices, or “Glock switches,” enable a weapon to fire multiple rounds with a single squeeze of the trigger, the law enforcement  source said.

A picture of Newark Police Department Detective Joseph Azcona. REUTERS

The devices are illegal and cheap.

Kits to transform semi-automatic weapons to fully automatic ones can cost just $20.

Ghost guns themselves are assembled from kits or parts, which are often sold online, and lack serial numbers, making them untraceable. The kits start at just $800.

Photographs of the slain officer and candles were displayed at a makeshift memorial near where he was shot and killed. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post

“Individuals can make their own firearm in their own home via readily available kits,” the source said. “The process is not difficult.”

Azcona, 26,  was struck before he could get out of his patrol car last Friday night at the corner of Carteret Avenue and Broadway, when the teen allegedly opened fire on him and his partner during a gun sweep.

Family members of Detective Joseph Azcona stand near the casket during his funeral service at the Cathedral Basilica of Sacred Heart in Newark. REUTERS

Azcona’s partner, who wasn’t identified, was shot but lived. The unidentified teen, was also shot, survived, and was charged with murder.

Azcona had been on the force for five years. His funeral was held on Friday at Newark’s Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

The casket followed by mourners at a crowded funeral for the slain detective. Aristide Economopoulos

A letter the  detective wrote in 2019  to the local police  academy about why he wanted a career in law enforcement was read at his funeral.

A Newark New Jersey police officer who was killed in a flurry of bullets fired by a 14-year-old in Newark while he was still in his car last week. Jose Azcona

“So I can help make the community I live in better — I have witnessed a lot of trouble in the area where I grew up,” he wrote. “To help people in the city of Newark, especially those who cannot help themselves.

He continued: “In 30 years, I can see myself retired with a happy family and beautiful kids. The day after I graduate from the police academy will be my best day.”

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