A Mays Landing man with a long criminal history is accused of chasing an acquaintance with a gun in Atlantic City and then holding the woman against her will.
Another woman was also charged with criminal restraint and simple assault.
The victim called 911 at about 12:36 p.m. Monday, saying she was being chased by a man with a gun who was driving a Chevy Equinox, Sgt. Paul Aristizabal said.
When officers arrived, there was no victim. But moments later, a concerned resident called police saying that two women were fighting at the corner of Missouri and Atlantic avenues. One of the women was then forced into a silver Chevy Equinox by a man and sped off, according to the report.
The concerned citizen took down the license plate information and forwarded it to police communications, Aristizabal said.
Surveillance Center personnel were able to retrieve footage and tracked the alleged victim back to a gas station in the 2000 block of Atlantic Avenue. Additional surveillance footage from the gas station was recovered by Sgt. Daniel Arra and revealed that the woman was seen inside a silver Chevy Equinox arguing with a man. She eventually fled on foot and then called 911.
Detective Thomas McCabe found that the registered owner of the vehicle lived in Mays Landing, Aristizabal said.
Arra, Sgt. Garry Stowe and Officers Justin Peyton and Brandon Bower went to the address, where they met Hamilton Township officers.
That led to a residence in the immediate vicinity, where police found a man and woman identified as the suspects.
Sharrik Molley, 52, and Gina Hernandez, 29, were taken into custody without incident, Aristizabal said.
A loaded handgun was found in the residence, along with the victim who was safe, according to the report.
She was confirmed to be an acquaintance of the pair.
Molley was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, criminal restraint, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a weapon and two counts of certain persons not to possess weapons.
His criminal history includes a 2019 weapons case. He was sentenced for that, along with joyriding and drug offenses in April 2021, court records show.
The sentence was non-custodial. He was last in the jail in October 2020.
Molley is in jail pending a detention hearing set for next week. He appeared briefly Friday, but
Hernandez is charged with criminal restraint and simple assault. She was released on a summons.
Police listed her as living in Tuckerton, but court records show her address as Mays Landing.
