Prosecutor makes Strong case for murder

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Freehold – November 7, acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced what many in the City Long Branch already presumed. Dante Strong, 18, was charged with the murder.

September 21, Adrian Anderson, 23, of Long Branch, was sitting on the front porch of his Liberty Street home when he was shot at least five times according to sources The Link News spoke with. The shooting occurred at 2:29 in the morning and Long Branch Police quickly responded and treated Anderson and started searching the area for the shooter.

Anderson was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Trauma Center, which is a specialized unit for such life threating injuries. Unfortunately, doctors were unable to save him and Anderson passed away at 5:22 a.m.

Immediately rumors started circulating, however the professional detectives and beat cops of the Long Branch Police Department shifted through the gossip, developed leads and checked every call and interviewed witnesses from New Jersey to Ohio.

Family members of Anderson spoke about how he had recently had an altercation with a few guys and he got the best of them. Others were stating that it was a gang related shooting, and family members of the victim stated that Anderson was not in a gang, but they had no idea about the killer.

One day before the murder on Liberty Street, an armed robbery occurred. In that incident police developed information that Strong had used a gun to beat and threaten a victim into turning over an undisclosed amount of cash.

Long Branch Police tracked down Strong and arrested him on the armed robbery charges. They also found a hand gun, which they took possession of and sent out for ballistic testing. Police sources have confirmed that the results of the murder weapon match the gun recovered when Strong was arrested.

Strong is currently held at the Monmouth County Correctional Facility in Freehold in lieu of $850,000 bail. Strong does have connections to the Bloods street gang. This is still an open investigation according to law enforcement