Man Charged In Fatal Route 33 Shooting May Be Tied To 2 Others

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP, NJ — Authorities are continuing to investigate possible ties between the Route 33 bypass shooting that took the life of a Freehold woman early Friday and two vehicle shootings last weekend but refused to say definitively that the shootings are linked.

During a news conference Friday afternoon broadcast live on Facebook, Monmouth County First Assistant Prosecutor Lori Linskey said investigators are awaiting the results of ballistic tests to determine whether bullets fired into cars in Neptune on April 27 and Holmdel on April 28 were fired by Kader Mustafa, 36, of Freehold.

Mustafa was arrested Friday morning and charged with murder in the death of Sciasia Calhoun, 24, of Freehold, who was pronounced dead at CentraState Medical Center in Freehold Township at 12:46 a.m. following the shooting, Linskey said.

Calhoun was shot as she was driving onto Halls Mills Road from the Route 33 bypass in a Mazda Protege; her boyfriend and 1-year-old child were in the car and were not physically injured, Linskey said. Authorities received a 911 call at 11:44 p.m. and Calhoun was taken to the hospital by Freehold First Aid with assistance from MONOC, she said.

The investigation revealed that Mustafa fired at Calhoun’s vehicle while driving a 2005 white Chevrolet Impala, authorities said. Mustafa was arrested in his car on Oakland Mills Road in Manalapan about 8:10 a.m., she said. Two handguns — a .40-caliber semi-automatic and a .38-caliber revolver — were recovered during the arrest, Linskey said.

Linskey said authorities have been tirelessly investigating shootings that happened April 27 in Neptune and April 28 in Holmdel, where shots were fired into vehicles. There were no injuries in those incidents, she said.

She pushed back on questions as to why authorities did not issue a warning to the public, however, saying there was a delay in the reporting of one of the incidents to law enforcement.

She called Friday's shooting "a substantial break" in the investigation.

"We believe very strongly that the public is safe and not at risk," Linskey said, adding authorities had received numerous calls about the incidents and the possibility of a serial shooter, "and we wanted to allay those concerns."

Linskey also said the Route 18 fatal shooting of Lloyd Earl "Everlasting" Sanders is not related to the Route 33 shooting.

Holmdel Township police said a man reported his car was hit by a bullet about 9:20 p.m. Saturday, April 28, as he was driving north on South Holmdel Road. The person reported the shooting to police later that night, Holmdel police said.

Details on the Neptune shooting have not been released; Linskey said there was a person in a vehicle and the vehicle was shot at, but the person was not injured.

Linskey also brushed aside a suggestion that the Neptune shooting was not taken as seriously.

"We don't take any incident of a shot being fired as some casual incident," Linskey said. "We investigate them all throroughly."

She said authorities are still investigating potential motives, but said investigators "have no information to support any nexus to terrorism."

Mustafa is charged with murder, attempted murder, two counts of unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, the prosecutor's office said. He is likely to make his first court appearance Saturday, with a detention hearing at a later date, Linskey said.

Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact Detective Andrea Tozzi of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office at 800-533-7443 or Detective Jamie Burdge of the Freehold Township Police Department at 732-462-7500.

Anonymous tips can be given to the Monmouth County Crime Stoppers confidential telephone tip-line by calling 1-800-671-4400. Anonymous tips also can be sent by texting "MONMOUTH” plus the tip to 274637.

Tips also can be sent in the website at www.monmouthcountycrimestoppers.com. Monmouth County Crime Stoppers will pay up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest or conviction of criminals and fugitives.

The prosecutor's office said the following agencies have been involved in the investigation: Freehold Township Police, Holmdel Police, Neptune Township Police, Freehold Borough Police, Manalapan Police, New Jersey State Police, Lakewood Police, Colts Neck Police, Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, Neptune City Police, Hightstown Police, Howell Township Police, NY/NJ Port Authority Police, New York City Police Real Time Crime Center, and the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Kader Mustafa, photo released by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office