Mays Landing man who was convicted killer as an A.C. teen now charged with attempted murder

A Mays Landing man who killed an Atlantic City middle-schooler when he was a teen is now accused of attempted murder in a double shooting from May.

Jerome Ford, now 23, was just 14 when he shot into a group of teens Jan. 8, 2014, killing 13-year-old Angel Mercado-Santiago, who was walking home from the Pennsylvania Avenue School.

A high school student was wounded.

His attorney at the time said evidence would prove it didn't rise to murder. A motion by the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office to have him waived up to be tried as an adult was denied by then-Family Court Judge Michael Blee.

Blee is now assignment judge for the Atlantic and Cape May County Vicinage.

Ford is now accused of conspiring with Emanuel Williams, 31, of Atlantic City, to kill two men, including a city worker.

    Emanuel Williams' Department of Corrections photo.
  

Arrod Moore and Rashad Stephens were sitting in a vehicle in the Cedar Market on Pennsylvania Avenue, when they were shot at about 9:30 a.m. May 13, according to the affidavit of probable cause obtained by BreakingAC.

A 9mm semi-automatic handgun and a .40-caliber handgun were used, according to the charges.

Moore was wounded in the leg. Stephens was struck in the hand.

Moore works with the city as a member of One Neighborhood Evolution, the mayor's initiative that has former felons do outreach in the community to help clean up the streets where they once caused problems.

A source close to the case said Moore was working in that capacity when he was shot. Mayor Marty Small said he could not comment on the case at this time.

The affidavit of probable cause claims that Stephens blamed "old beef" on the shooting.

"I am familiar with 'the beef' as referring to a series of armed retaliatory shootings between rival criminal street gangs operating within Atlantic City," Violent Crimes Unit Detective Aaron Jones wrote in the affidavit.

Ford and Williams are documented members of Fetti-G, a gang based in Atlantic City's Stanley Holmes Village, the affidavit states.

It also claims that the victims are members of a rival gang.

Ford was arrested in Sicklerville on Wednesday. He is still on probation for the 2014 aggravated manslaughter, as well as on release for a pending 2020 second-degree weapons charge, records show.

Williams has been jailed since May 29. He was just released from prison last August, after serving a prison sentence for gun charges in 2015, 2017 and 2018, court records show. He did 26 months of a five-year sentence.

Ford faces 14 counts and Williams has 15 counts. Those charges include two counts each of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They also are charged with four counts each of aggravated assault.

An investigation conducted by detectives of the Violent Crimes Unit identified Jerome Ford as the suspect involved in the shooting resulting in the filing of criminal charges. Ford was arrested on June 29, 2022 in Sicklerville, NJ.

Both are now in the Atlantic County Justice Facility. Williams is being held pending the outcome of the case. Ford is awaiting a detention hearing.