Rifle With 100-Round Magazine Found With Man Accused In Rumson Home Shooting, Affidavit Says

RUMSON, NJ — The man charged in connection with a bullet being shot through the window of a Rumson home had a rifle with a 100-round drum magazine in his car when he was arrested after authorities heard two more gunshots while investigating the first, court documents say.

Terry Haupt, 42, of Red Bank, is believed to have fired the shot from the home where his children live, which backs up to the home where the bullet was found lodged in a door frame, according to the probable cause affidavit filed in the case.

Haupt is charged with one count of certain persons not to possess a weapon, one count of unlawful possession of a weapon, and one count of possession of a large-capacity ammunition magazine in the Sept. 22 shooting. No one was injured, authorities said.

Authorities have not suggested a possible motive in the shooting.

Rumson Police were called to a Meadowbrook Avenue home at 3:22 p.m. on Sept. 22 for a report of a gunshot through the window.

The resident told police a bullet had come through the sliding glass door on the rear of their home and lodged in the frame of the front door, the affidavit said.

Police confirmed the bullet’s location, and as they searched the area, they found an open back door at the home directly behind the Meadowbrook Avenue house, the affidavit said.

As police were investigating at that home, which is on Maplewood Avenue, two children arrived.

Authorities notified their mother of the investigation, and as they were doing so, Haupt, who was driving a white Dodge Avenger, arrived and told police the children were his, and that he was only stopping there after work, the affidavit said.

Police got consent to search the backyard and driveway of the Maplewood Avenue home, but did not find any evidence, the affidavit said.

Around 8 p.m., as they continued to investigate in the area, police heard two more gunshots in the area of the Meadowbrook Avenue home, and officers saw Haupt’s Dodge Avenger leaving a nearby boat ramp and later pulling into the driveway at the Maplewood Avenue home, the affidavit said.

While they were interviewing Haupt in the driveway, authorities saw a rifle with a drum magazine in plain view on the floor in the back seat of the car, the affidavit said. According to court documents, he appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Police also found a spent .223 shell casing in the area of the boat ramp where the Dodge had been seen leaving from, the affidavit said.

After speaking with Haupt, authorities said the rifle was seized and Haupt was arrested. His car was towed pending a search under a search warrant, authorities said.

Haupt was ordered to remain in the Monmouth County jail pending future court proceedings during a detention hearing on Friday, a Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman said.

According to a report from the Asbury Park Press, Haupt was previously sentenced to three years in prison in a 2011 weapons case out of Red Bank and had at least one prior conviction at the time.

Previous Coverage

• Bullet Shot Into Rumson Home, Man Charged, Prosecutor Says