Ronald Rivers, in a 2014 mugshot, is accused of a shooting inside the Ocean Casino parking garage.
An Atlantic City man was quickly arrested in a shooting that wounded a man inside a casino parking garage Saturday night.
Police were called to the Ocean Casino parking garage just after 9 p.m. for the report of a man shot, Deputy Chief Andrew Leonard said.
Officers located 41-year-old Robert Phillips, with multiple gunshots to his lower body, according to the report.
Officers immediately rendered aid to the victim and obtained a description of the suspect, who was located a short time later.
Ronald Rivers, 55, was arrested as he tried to flee the area, Leonard said. A handgun reported stolen from South Carolina also was recovered.
Rivers was released from prison in 2023, stemming from a 15-year sentence in a case out of Dennis Township, Cape May County, that included aggravated assault and weapons offenses, court records show.
He was arrested April 14, 2014, after State Police responded to a call from a female victim who claimed Rivers had pointed a handgun at her, the Cape May County Herald reported at the time. The victim had left the premises when police arrived to find Rivers armed with a loaded revolver.
State Police also found numerous drugs and more than $2,400 in cash, according to the report.
Rivers now is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, and weapons offenses, including possession of a weapon by a certain person not to possess a weapon due to his criminal history.
Phillips, a city resident, is in critical condition at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center's City Campus.
The deputy chief lauded the swift and combined response between the department’s officers, dispatchers and surveillance personnel working with Ocean security in arresting the suspect in less than 20 minutes.
Rivers was taken to the Atlantic County Justice Facility, but was not yet listed as an inmate there Sunday.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Atlantic City Police Department's Violent Crimes Unit at 609-347-5788. Information may also be texted anonymously to tip411 (847411), beginning the text with ACPD.
