A man accused of killing his friend inside another friend's Egg Harbor Township home when both were teens will now stay jailed after allegedly being found with a loaded gun following a car crash in Atlantic City.
Ernesto Contreras-Jimenez, now 20, was just 17 when he shot 16-year-old Alejandro Gonzalez-Santos Jr. in the back of the head Jan. 26, 2018.
Contreras-Jimenez’s attorney has said it was an accident.
The teens were in the bedroom of friend Michael Campos, when Jimenez took out the gun to show the others, and fired.
Contreras-Jimenez was released from the Harborfields Juvenile Detention Center on an ankle monitor, and was allowed to graduate with his senior class that year.
He continued on release after he was waived up to be tried as an adult. This summer, a September trial date was set, but that was postponed when the courts again closed to trials due to COVID-19.
Contreras-Jimenez, who now is listed as living in Pleasantville, was then arrested Dec. 26, after Atlantic City police officers investigating a crash found that he and the driver, 25-year-old Divier Silva, each had a loaded handgun, according to the charges.
That Jimenez already was on the highest level of pre-trial release and still armed himself showed that he remains a danger to the community, Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury ruled Tuesday.
Contreras-Jimenez now will remain jailed pending the outcome of his case.
Superior Court Judge John Rauh detained Silva — who has no criminal record — during a separate.
There was also nearly 10 ounces of marijuana found in the car, Assistant Prosecutor Rick McKelvey told the judge.
Marijuana also was found in the room of the 2018 shooting, but attorney Steven Feldman has previously said it had nothing to do with his client and that there was "no indication anyone had done marijuana” at the time of that shooting.
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