FIVE ARRESTED IN KEANSBURG SHOOTING INVESTIGATION

FREEHOLD – A multi-jurisdictional investigation into a February shooting in Keansburg has resulted in five arrests, announced Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.

Shortly before 5 p.m. on Feb. 20, 2020, the Keansburg Police Department responded to a report of shots fired in the first block of Seabreeze Avenue. The intended victim was identified and evidence consistent with a shooting was recovered.

A joint investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office and Keansburg Police Department was launched and actively pursued. That investigation revealed that on February 20, 2020, the victim was shot at multiple times from a vehicle occupied by three individuals. Subsequent investigation led to the identification of that vehicle, and the three occupants of that vehicle were identified as Wayne Jones, Jr., Brittany Smalls, and Tyrone Bailey.

On May 6, 2020, during a motor vehicle stop of Wayne Jones, Jr., related to the investigation, Jones, Jr. and two others were found to be in possession of a stolen, loaded, 9mm handgun.

Wayne Jones, Jr., 23, of Keansburg, Tyrone Bailey, 21 of Asbury Park, and Brittany Smalls, 25, of Neptune Township, are charged with first degree Attempted Murder, second degree Possession of a Handgun for an Unlawful Purpose, second degree Unlawful Possession of a Handgun and third degree Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. Jones is additionally charged with second degree Unlawful Possession of a Handgun and third degree Receiving Stolen Property.

Tiera Young, 24, of Lakewood, and Darrell Ghee, 25, of Asbury Park, are charged with second degree Unlawful Possession of a Handgun and third degree Receiving Stolen Property. Ghee was also charged as a second degree Certain Person Not to Possess a Firearm. Ghee was recently paroled from a thirty (30) day home confinement furlough after he was released from New Jersey State Prison under Gov. Phil Murphy’s Executive Order #124. Ghee was previously sentenced on Dec. 31, 2019 to an aggregate four-year New Jersey State Prison term for Eluding and CDS offenses, with a maximum release date set for July 25, 2020.

All five defendants are being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI) in Freehold Township pending individual detention hearings scheduled for May 18, 2020 before the Honorable Paul X. Escandon, J.S.C.

The case was resolved with the joint cooperation of members of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes, Narcotics and Criminal Enterprise Unit, and the Red Bank and Keansburg police departments.

Anyone with information about this case is urged to call Detective Stephen Cavendish of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office at 1-800-533-7443 or Detective Rich Johnson of the Keansburg Police Department at 732-787-0600.

If convicted of Attempted Murder, Jones, Smalls, and Bailey face sentences of up to 20 years in a New Jersey state prison without parole, subject to the provisions of the “No Early Release Act” (NERA) requiring them to serve 85 percent of the sentence imposed before becoming eligible for release on parole. They would also be under parole supervision for five years following their release from state prison.

If convicted of Unlawful Possession of a Handgun, each individual faces a sentence of five to ten years in prison subject to the provisions of the Graves Act, requiring them to serve a mandatory 42 months in state prison before becoming eligible for release on parole.

If convicted of being a Certain Person Not to Possess a Handgun, Ghee faces a statutorily mandated sentence of five years in prison with five years parole ineligibility.

The case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Caitlin Sidley.

Despite these charges, every defendant is presumed innocent, unless and until found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, following a trial at which the defendant has all of the trial rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and State law.