Shooting, Then Hiding Gun Nets Barnegat Man Prison Sentence

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — A Barnegat man was sentenced to prison for shooting a man in the leg and then hiding the gun to try to hinder his arrest.

Louis Stokes, 27, was sentenced on charges of second-degree aggravated assault, second-degree possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose, and third-degree hindering apprehension, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office announced. Due to a plea agreement, he was sentenced to an aggregate term of five years in New Jersey State Prison, with an 85 percent period of parole ineligibility. Upon his release, Stokes will be subject to an intensive parole supervision for three years.

Shortly before midnight on Oct. 14, 2022, Atlantic City police went to Sewell Avenue where they found a man who had been shot once in the leg, officials said.

The crime scene, with eight expended 9mm shell casings, was found nearby in the area of Pennsylvania and Adriatic Avenues, officials said.

Surveillance video showed that a group of men had been in the area of the shooting before fleeing inside a home together, officials said.

Inside that home, three handguns were found, including a stolen 9mm handgun which the ballistics laboratory later determined had been used to shoot the victim, officials said.

This handgun was found after it was hidden outside a second-floor window on an adjacent exterior windowsill, according to authorities. Stokes' DNA was present on two of the handguns and he was identified as the shooter by an eyewitness, officials said.

Under oath during his guilty plea, Stokes admitted shooting the victim with the handgun which he then hid in order to hinder his apprehension, according to officials.