A jury acquitted an Ohio man of murder, aggravated assault and weapons offenses in a Vineland shooting that killed two men and wounded a woman in 2015.
Michael Loftin Jr., 28, of Cincinnati, was convicted of first-degree conspiracy to commit murder in the deadly March 8, 2015, shooting.
Police were called to the 100 block of West Grape Street at about 12:19 a.m. for the report of several shots fired.
When they arrived, four people were found inside a vehicle.
Damien Mills, 22, of Vineland, was pronounced dead at the scene. Kevin Peterson, 20, also of Vineland, had been shot four times and was rushed to the hospital, where he later died.
A woman survived a gunshot wound to the leg. The fourth occupant, another woman, was not injured.
Officers found a flip-phone in close proximity to shell casings and the victim’s vehicle.
Numbers inside the phone led investigators to the 200 block of East Oak Road, where Loftin lived.
DNA swabbed from the flip-phone matched Loftin, who was charged June 2, 2015.
Sheldon Goldsborough, 44, of Vineland, is also charged in the killings. He is in South Woods State Prison on a gun and drugs case from 2017, with a murder trial pending.
Loftin faces 10 to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy count when he is sentenced Oct. 27.
He would have to serve at least 85 percent of any sentence, under the No Early Release Act.
Loftin was taken into custody after the guilty verdict and is currently in the Cumberland County Jail.
