Louis Stokes III (Atlantic County Justice Facility)
A former Atlantic City resident who admitted to shooting a teen and then hiding weapons in a diaper bag was sentenced to five years in prison.
Louis Stokes III, who now lives in Barnegat, must serve at least 3½ years before he is eligible for parole under the plea agreement.
Stokes, now 27, was sentenced Sept. 24, but the outcome was just announced Wednesday.
He remains in the Atlantic County Justice Facility, where he already has served more than half his required time.
Stokes was arrested Oct. 14, 2022, after police responded to Sewell Avenue, where they found a 19-year-old man had been shot in the leg.
The victim — identified only as Z.H. — told police that he was walking past a group of men when he got into a verbal argument with Stokes.
Z.H. said the man then pulled out a gun and fired at him repeatedly, according to the affidavit reported by BreakingAC at the time.
Police found eight 9mm shell casings at the scene.
Surveillance video from the scene showed three men run into a house at 1107 Adriatic Ave. immediately after the shooting, the affidavit states.
Police surrounded the apartment and called out the occupants, which included two babies and Stokes’ mother, who gave consent to search her residence, according to the affidavit.
Three handguns were found inside a diaper bag on the second floor. The guns were identified as a .40-caliber Glock 23 semiautomatic handgun, a Taurus revolver and a 9mm Smith & Wesson semiautomatic handgun.
A window of the room was propped open, and police found another bag on the windowsill of an abandoned property next door “within arms-length,” the affidavit stated.
There was a second 9mm Smith & Wesson inside the bag. It had been reported stolen from Georgia.
Ballistics testing linked that gun to the shooting.
Louis Stokes III (N.J. Department of Corrections)
