Federal authorities arrested a 27-year-old man and charged him in the fatal shooting earlier this month of a Lakewood teenager, Ocean County officials said this morning. Jamil Parson, also known as “Animal,’’ was apprehended in Trenton on Tuesday night, Ocean County Prosecutor Marlene Lynch Ford said. Parson was charged with murder and attempted murder in the Dec. 4 shooting (First reported here on TLS) that left Luis Enrique Garcia dead and his 16-year-old cousin wounded. Ford said Parson, who has no permanent address, shot Garcia once in the head to settle a dispute. She did not elaborate on the nature of the dispute.
He was arrested by agents of the U.S. Marshal’s Service at an apartment in the Woodrow Wilson Homes housing complex on Eisenhower Avenue where he was staying, said Deputy Chief Michael Mohel, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office. Citing the ongoing nature of the investigation, Mohel said he would not discuss a motive.
“We believe this defendant essentially executed this 17-year-old Lakewood resident, Mr. Garcia, by a single handgun shot to the head, all in an effort to settle some ‘score’ with this victim,” Ford said. “This conduct is nothing less than heinous — a cold-blooded act of murder.’’
After returning from a convenience store, Garcia and his cousin, Fernando Reyes, 16, were walking by a wooded area along New Hampshire Avenue shortly after 10 p.m. when a gunman approached and fired several shots, authorities said.
Reyes, who was struck twice, flagged down a passing motorist who drove him to Kimball Medical Center in Lakewood. He was later airlifted to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune.
After speaking with Reyes, authorities found Garcia’s body shortly after midnight on a path in the wooded area leading to the Woodlake Manor Apartments where he lived. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Parson is being held in the Ocean County Jail in Toms River in lieu of $1 million bail. Ford said the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and the Newark Police Department assisted her office and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department with the investigation.
Ford said the investigation is continuing and she urged anyone with information to contact Lakewood Officer Jason Pederson at 732-363-0200 or Prosecutor’s Detective Carlos Trujillo-Tovar at 732-929-2027. Star Ledger/TLS/TLS-55
thank you to all the police agencies involved in catching this “animal” and taking him off the street,. those poor teenagers did not deserve to have their lives cut this short
Wow,how did he get such a good “name”? Really matches his actions!! Will probably do him well in his near future home too. Maybe he’ll have a “permanent” address then!!
thanks to all in this to get the Animal what he is !!!!!!!
good job to all!!!
Thank you, to all that have been helpfull in this investigation. I hope and pray that the person gets convicted a life sentence, so he can suffer the pain of a love one.