Atlantic City, NJ – A 50-year-old man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after he was sentenced Tuesday to 70 years in state prison for the execution-style murder of a man he shot outside their neighboring hotel rooms in the early morning hours.
Umar Abdullah was convicted in June of first-degree murder and multiple weapons offenses for the killing of Mark Wright, 35, outside the Cassino Hotel in Atlantic City’s Ducktown neighborhood. Surveillance footage showed Abdullah stepping out of his second-floor apartment with a handgun before firing four rounds at Wright, who was struck three times and pronounced dead at the scene.
The shooting occurred around 4:00 a.m. on October 10, 2021. Both men lived in adjacent rooms at the Cassino Hotel, located at 28 S. Georgia Avenue. The Atlantic City Police Department and Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office responded to the scene and launched a five-week manhunt before Abdullah was found hiding in a residence in Egg Harbor City.
After his conviction for murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, Abdullah faced a second bench trial where Judge Jorge Coombs found him guilty of two additional weapons charges related to his prior violent crime convictions.
On sentencing day, Judge Coombs handed down a 55-year term for the murder charge, with 85% to be served without parole, followed by a consecutive 15-year term for weapons possession. Abdullah will be required to serve more than 54 years before becoming eligible for parole.
Prosecutors Rick McKelvey and Brooke Melissa Hoffner of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office led the case at trial.