A Pleasantville man who was shot nine times in a car outside his home will remain jailed after police found a gun and drugs during their investigation.
Julian Johnson and his girlfriend were in her car outside outside his residence on Ryon Avenue at about 10:36 p.m. Feb. 25.
Three cars were struck, with Johnson and another man wounded by gunfire, police said at the time.
But a search of Angelika Thompson's car resulted in a 9mm gun with a large-capacity magazine and two hollow-nosed rounds, according to the charges.
Johnson was on release with a pending sentencing at the time of the shooting.
Thompson, who turned 20 in the Atlantic County Justice Facility, has been jailed since June 7.
She was ordered held during a detention hearing last week, around the same time Johnson turned himself in.
Thompson had no prior record, and consented to let police search her vehicle, her attorney noted at the time.
The gun was found under the passenger seat where Johnson was sitting, with the drugs found in a black men's coat that Thompson's attorney said belonged to Johnson.
"She was aware her co-defendant is known to carry a gun and was aware he was in possession of narcotics," Assistant Prosecutor Paige Kramer said at Thompson detention hearing last week.
"She has learned a valuable lesson about the company she keeps," attorney Christina Naughton told the judge. "She has broken up with this, at the time boyfriend, now ex-boyfriend."
Judge Pam D'Arcy ordered Thompson held, but said "if the co-defendant comes forward and takes the weight," she would reconsider that decision.
Instead, Johnson's attorney denied the gun belonged to his client, saying video surveillance of the shooting showed one of the gunmen approach the car.
Attorney Michael Schreiber suggested that the gun could have been thrown through the window by the unnamed perpetrator.
"My client was the victim," Schreiber said, adding that if Johnson had a gun, he likely would have defended himself.
"He was just a sitting duck being shot while lying on the ground," he said. "It's a miracle he didn't die."
Assistant Prosecutor Harlee Stein said during Johnson's detention hearing Tuesday that the state is cognizant he was a victim.
"The state is also cognizant that he was required to remain in his home after 7 p.m.," she added.
Johnson, 27, was on release after pleading guilty in a 2020 gun case. A 7 p.m. curfew was one of the conditions of his release.
Knowing the business Johnson deals with, such incidents are not surprising, Stein said.
"The drug-trafficking trade also has a serious criminal violence element to it," she said. "The state is also concerned with retaliation in this case."
D'Arcy ordered Johnson held, and violated him for his release in the other case.
