Man Sought In Little Egg Shooting Nabbed At Penn Station

LITTLE EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, NJ — A daylong manhunt for a man who traded gunfire with a Tuckerton police officer Thursday morning has ended after the man was arrested at Penn Station in New York, the Ocean County prosecutor's office announced.

Miguel Angel Villegas, 29, of New Haven, Connecticut, was arrested shortly after 8 p.m. by the United States Marshals Service and the New York City Police Department, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

He said the county will seek to have Villegas extradited to Ocean County to face charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose. Billhimer said Villegas is wanted on charges in Connecticut as well.

Villegas was the passenger in a car that fled a motor vehicle stop in Tuckerton at the intersection of Route 9 and North Green Street about 10:20 a.m., Billhimer said. The car sped off but crashed into another car. After the crash, Villegas and an unidentified Tuckerton police officer traded gunfire before Villegas ran from the crash scene, he said.

The officer was not injured in the gunfire, he said.

A witness told News 12 New Jersey a man, now identified as Villegas, got out after the crash and started shooting.

The massive manhunt ensued as Villegas was later seen riding a bicycle in the Tuckerton/Parkertown area, but the Ocean County portion of the search was called off about 5 p.m. when authorities announced they had confirmed he was no longer in the Little Egg area.

"The public can rest easy tonight knowing the men and women of law enforcement worked through the day into tonight to bring Villegas into custody peacefully," Billhimer said.

The investigation is continuing and more details will be released as they become available, he said.

The manhunt involved the prosecutor’s office, the U.S. Marshals Service, the New York City Police Department, Tuckerton Borough police, Little Egg Harbor police, New Jersey State Police, the New Jersey State Police Regional Operations Intelligence Center, the New Jersey State Police Aviation Unit, New Jersey Transit Police, the Ocean County Regional SWAT, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation unit, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit, New Haven Police (Connecticut), Port Authority Police, the Tuckerton Fire Department and the Tuckerton Public Works Department.

Schools in Little Egg Harbor and Tuckerton were on lockdown much of the day, with Pinelands Regional Junior High and High School students escorted to buses by law enforcement around 2:30 p.m., the Asbury Park Press reported.

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