More details have been released about an argument that began in the Atlantic County Criminal Courthouse and ended with a deadly shootout between three cars on the Atlantic City Expressway last summer.
In announcing the indictment of three more men in the case, Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner also gave some insight into the case, which is rooted in gang activity.
Anthony Hicks, Wilbert Demosthenes and Devan Leggette were indicted on a dozen charges each Tuesday, including three counts pertaining to gang criminality, Tyner said. The grand jury also indicted Hicks and Demosthenes each on a possession of a weapon by a convicted felon charge.
Tyner alleges the three are members of the Southside Mob, centered in Pleasantville's southside and affiliated with the Haitian mob, a source tells BreakingAC.
The gun battle was sparked by an altercation inside a bathroom of the Mays Landing courthouse on Aug. 29, 2016, according to the charges.
Legette, who already has been ordered held pending trial, tried to fight Yahshaun Stukes-Williams, who was in court for a hearing that day.
Stukes-Williams and M.T., a minor who was with him, then saw a group of men standing outside his car in the courthouse parking lot, so Stukes-Williams’ father drove to the courthouse with Lenardo Caro to pick the two up.
They left the courthouse in a white Ford Expedition, but then noticed as they approached the toll entrance to the Atlantic City Expressway east that they were being followed by a gold Nissan Maxima and a black Dodge Ram pickup.
As they got on the expressway, shots were fired from the Maxima at the Expedition, whose occupants returned fire, according to the prosecutor. Then the pickup pulled alongside the Expedition, and another gunbattle erupted.
The Expedition got off at Exit 9, allegedly ditched four guns along Carmen Avenue, and then wound up crashed in the parking lot of the Wawa on the airport circle in Egg Harbor Township, with all four of its occupants suffering from gunshot wounds. Stukes-Williams was grazed in the head, the other three were shot in the leg.
Driving the Maxima, Anthony Hicks exited the expressway at Exit 7N, taking him onto the Garden State Parkway where the car would be found around on milemarker 37.9 with the front seat passenger, Rosemond Octavius, fatally shot.
No one has been charged with his killing.
An off-duty police officer followed the Ram off Exit 5, where it turned onto Woodland Avenue and disappeared. It was found the next day at 226 E. Oakland Ave. in Pleasantville.
The three adults wounded inside the Expedition were indicted last week on weapons charges. Stukes-Williams was additionally charged with two counts of gang criminality for his alleged involvement in the Head Shot gang, a gang based out of Atlantic City's Back Maryland section.
