Cousins admit to roles in deadly 2012 Atlantic City shooting

Two Atlantic City cousins have admitted their roles in a deadly 2012 shooting on a porch that also injured a toddler.

Mujahid Blackwell was just 16 when he opened fire as Sedrick Lindo sat on a porch at Carver Hall on July 29, 2012, talking to a friend with her 3-year-old son.

Now he faces a 22-year prison sentence for aggravated manslaughter under the plea agreement.

Blackwell’s cousin, Kahlil Blackwell, allegedly orchestrated the plan that was to replenish guns seized by police, according to the prosecutor at the trial of co-defendant Joshua Cross.

Cross is now serving a 40-year prison sentence after jurors convicted him in the case. His parole date is currently Aug. 26, 2047.

Both Blackwells recently pleaded guilty in the case and are scheduled to be sentenced in January.

Mujahid Blackwell, now 23, would have to serve 18 years and eight months under the No Early Release Act, or NERA. He will get credit for the years he’s been jailed.

A juvenile when he was arrested, he has been in the Camden County Jail since April 25, 2014, the day after his 18th birthday. The jail has a longstanding practice of not releasing mugshots.

Kahlil Blackwell, now 27, admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit murder. He faces a term of 16 years under the plea agreement, with a parole ineligibility of 13 years and just more than seven months.

Former co-defendant Demarice Bennett pleaded guilty in January and remains in the Atlantic County jail awaiting his sentencing. Under the plea agreement, he faces a 10-year sentence. But he already has served about seven years of that sentence, leaving about 18 months under NERA.