NJ Man Convicted In Fatal Beating Of Teen After Shooting

HAWTHORNE, NJ — A Hawthorne man has been sentenced to prison after being convicted of aggravated manslaughter in an 18-year-old's beating death, officials announced Tuesday.

Officials said 40-year-old Tyheem Jones was one of several people who assaulted Nicolas Reyes, a Paterson resident, early in the morning on Aug. 27, 2020. A minor and several unidentified suspects also participated in the assault, according to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office.

The assault was captured on surveillance video and lasted 11 minutes, officials said on Tuesday. A jury found Jones guilty of aggravated manslaughter last November, and he was sentenced to 15 years in New Jersey state prison on Tuesday.

A shooting had taken place "minutes earlier," not far from where the assault occurred, prosecutors said.

At the time, officials said they found Jones "pacing back and forth in the middle of the street while breathing heavily and sweating profusely."

Reyes was lying on the ground with a gash on his head. He died at the hospital the next day.

The prosecutor's office said that Jones punched and kicked Reyes, and pistol whipped him with a handgun, in a 2020 statement. He was arrested at the scene.

Jones must serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for parole, according to officials.