L C
An Egg Harbor Township man who allegedly ran into various Atlantic City apartments to avoid police was ordered held Tuesday.
Sharif Williams, 29, was arrested in Pleasantville last week, but has been wanted since allegedly fleeing Atlantic City police in December.
Williams was spotted Dec. 19, in a vehicle that was tied to a shooting in the city days earlier, Assistant Prosecutor Joseph More said during a detention hearing Tuesday.
Williams ran into Stanley Holmes Village and entered multiple units in an attempt to escape police, More said.
Williams is not yet charged in the Dec. 14 shooting that wounded a man, but is a suspect, More said.
“There’s nothing about shooting anyone,” defense attorney John Bjorklund told the judge in arguing for Williams’ release. “What I’m looking at are third- and fourth-degree offenses and a disorderly persons offense.”
More argued that Williams “certainly poses a danger to the community in his willingness to go into these homes to avoid detection by police.”
He also presented a bit of the state’s investigation into the shooting and why Williams is a suspect.
Police were called to the 200 block of N. South Carolina Avenue on Dec. 14 for a shooting, according to the affidavit. A man was shot in the left leg, and a 9mm shell casing was found in the parking lot of the 100 block of Tennessee Avenue.
The victim “was extremely uncooperative and refused to provide any information or details of the incident,” according to the report.
Surveillance video led to a newer-model silver Chevrolet Equinox with heavily tinted windows and a temporary tag.
Williams was seen driving a 2020 silver Equinox with temporary tags to the Public Safety Building on Nov. 28, the report states. He also had on the same black-and-blue Jordans as the day of the shooting.
That same vehicle was seen at 12:22 p.m. Dec. 19, in the area of Kentucky and Caspian avenues. Officer recognized it as the suspect vehicle in the shooting, Officer Ivaylo Ivanov wrote in his report.
Williams got out of the passenger side and started to run, leading police on an unsuccessful foot chase through the 500 block of Kentucky Avenue.
The officers said they saw him holding his right arm to his side, as if trying to keep a gun in his waistband as he ran.
No details were given about his eventual arrest last week in Pleasantville.
Superior Court Judge Pam D’Arcy said she understood that Williams is not charged in the shooting, but is a suspect. She pointed instead to the public safety assessment, which is used under bail reform to held determine if someone should be detained.
The report scores on a scale of one to six for flight risk and dangerousness.
Williams scored a six for flight risk, including failing to appear for court four times in 2022.
He was a five for dangerousness.
Williams was one of two men arrested during a 2017 car stop, BreakingAC reported at the time. Drugs led to the discovery of a loaded gun in his pants.
He was released from prison Sept. 24, 2019, court records show.
Williams also was one of three people wounded in a June 2021 shooting that killed Azaiah Grissom.
Williams now will remain jailed as his case goes through the system.
