FREEHOLD – Two people were injured and one killed after Asbury Park Police attempted to initiate a traffic stop on a vehicle suspected in an earlier shooting in the city.
According to police, the shots-fired incident that led to a vehicular police pursuit yielding an arrest and the recovery of two handguns remains under active investigation, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey announced Tuesday.
“Shortly after 7:15 p.m. on Sunday, June 5, Asbury Park Police Department patrol units responding to gunfire coming from the 10 block of Atkins Avenue spotted a vehicle leaving the area and attempted to initiate a traffic stop. The vehicle subsequently crashed less than a mile away, in the area of Washington Avenue and Myrtle Avenue in neighboring Neptune Township,” police reported. “Two occupants of the crashed vehicle, a 15-year-old male and 33-year-old Justin Mayes-Wiggs of Neptune Township, attempted to leave the scene on foot but were quickly located. The other two occupants of the vehicle were seriously injured and transported to a local hospital; one has since been pronounced dead, while the other remains in critical condition. The juvenile was also transported to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries, and his involvement remains under investigation.
Mayes-Wiggs has since been criminally charged with two counts of second-degree Unlawful Possession of a Handgun, second-degree Certain Persons not to Possess Weapons, and Obstruction of Justice, a disorderly persons offense, after which he was lodged in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI) pending a first appearance to take place in Monmouth County Superior Court.
The circumstances of the vehicular police pursuit are being investigated by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.