A Mays Landing man is jailed on a weapons charge in the killing of a man in January.
Davine Rice, 28, stabbed Thomas Randall multiple times during a physical altercation inside a Mays Landing bedroom, according to the charges.
Neither man lived in the Hoover Drive home, where Rice is a neighbor, records show.
The home is where Randall's children were living with their mother, family members told BreakingAC.
Randall kicked in the front door of the home at about 2:38 a.m. Jan. 2, according to an investigation by the Atlantic County's Prosecutor's Office Major Crimes Unit.
Once inside the home, Randall went upstairs and kicked in a bedroom door, where he found Rice in bed, the investigation found.
A physical altercation allegedly led to Rice stabbing Randall.
Rice, 30, fled the scene with a knife, according to the charges. He was arrested Aug. 11, jail records show.
Randall died of multiple stab wounds, the autopsy found.
The death was ruled a homicide, but Rice has not been charged with murder or any degree of manslaughter.
"Boomie" Randall, as he was known to loved ones, asked his grandfather to drive him to the home that day to bring food to his children, Joseph Williams previously told BreakingAC.
He then waited outside for Randall to return. Instead, he found out his grandson was inside bleeding.
"He was lying on the floor and had a big hole in his side," said Williams, who raised Randal. "He said, 'Grandpop, give me some water, my mouth is dry.'"
Williams said his grandson then told him he was tired.
Valarie Randall said she got a call from her mother saying her son had been stabbed and "we needed to go to the hospital."
Because of COVID, they could not go inside.
The next call they got was to say he had died.
Valarie Randall has been waiting months to find out what happened to her son.
When BreakingAC asked the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office about the case in May, then-Prosecutor Damon Tyner did not respond.
This week, the office — now under the leadership of acting Prosecutor Cary Shill — released a statement on the charges when asked by BreakingAC.
Rice is charged with preventing a public servant from lawfully performing an official function as a result of fleeing the scene with the weapon, along with possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, in relation to a 2014 aggravated assault conviction.
Rice is currently in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
The Atlantic County jail is not allowed to release mug shots, per a previous order by the former prosecutor. The photo at top is from the state Department of Corrections.
