Two Men Charged In Barnegat Shooting, Police Chief Says

BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP, NJ - Authorities have charged two men in connection with a Monday night shooting on Lexington Boulevard, Police Chief Keith Germain said.

“This was textbook, outstanding police work that resulted in identifying and charging the subjects in less than 48 hours," the chief said in a Facebook post today.

The arrests came less than 48 hours after the May 7 incident, when Barnegat police received a report of gunshots in the area at 7:32 p.m. They found no activity or a victim in the area when they arrived, but were able to determine that someone had been injured at the location, according an earlier post on the Barnegat police Facebook page.

Stafford Township police later notified Barnegat officers that night that a 26-year-old Ocean Gate man was located at Southern Ocean Medical Center with a non-life threatening gunshot wound to the leg. The witness did not want to cooperate with authorities, police said.

After an intensive investigation by the Barnegat Police Crime Reduction Unit, authorities issued warrants for Rashon Peten, 29, Asbury Park, and Raymond McCullers Jr., 25, Lakewood, for second-degree aggravated assault, second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon and second-degree possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes before their May 9 arrests, Germain said on the Facebook page.

Peten was arrested in Asbury Park at 2:26 p.m. by members of the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department Warrant Unit and United States Marshal's Task Force. McCullers was arrested in Lakewood at 9:30 p.m. with the assistance of the Lakewood Police Department's Street Crimes Unit, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department, United States Marshalls Task Force, and New Jersey State Police, the chief said.

Barnegat Police were also assisted in the search by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Special Operations Group. Both men were taken to the Ocean County Jail in Toms River, he said.

“Barnegat is not the town you want to come to if you’re planning on committing violent crime," Germain said. "We have a 100% clearance rate on our small number of violent crimes for a reason -we have the best officers anywhere and we will pour every available resource into solving these cases.”

Logo: Courtesy of Barnegat Township Police Department