Atlantic City Cop Who Shot Camden Man Won't Be Indicted: Prosecutor

An Atlantic City Police officer who fatally shot a Camden man during an attempted robbery near the Caesars Atlantic City parking garage on Arkansas Avenue in September will not be charged, Atlantic County Acting Prosecutor Diane M. Ruberton said on Wednesday.

An Atlantic County Grand Jury reviewed the evidence on Wednesday and declined to bring criminal indictments against the officer, Ruberton said.

On Saturday, Sept. 3, at about 2:34 a.m., two uniformed Atlantic City police officers on patrol observed a robbery in progress near the parking garage.

The officers observed a group of six males. As one Atlantic City police officer exited the vehicle, he was shot and injured. The second police officer returned fire, hitting one suspect, who fled the scene.

All other people involved in the robbery also fled the scene in different directions. The suspect who had been shot was located approximately 1½ blocks away, on Missouri and Pacific Avenues, where he collapsed and died.

The police officer was treated at the scene by responding emergency medical personnel, and transported to the AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center—City Division, in critical condition. All 5 persons of interest sought by law enforcement were located and identified.

The investigation revealed that 3 of the men had been victims of an armed robbery committed by the other three men: the deceased man, and two others. The 3 robbery victims cooperated with police, and have been released, no longer detained for investigation by police.

The 3 suspects were identified. The deceased man was identified as Jerome Damon, 25, of Camden. Jerome Damon’s next-of-kin were notified.

New Jersey State Police arrested the other two suspects later the same day, arresting Martel D. Chisholm, now 30, of Bayview Avenue, Pleasantville, and arresting Demetris Cross, 28, of Burlington Road, Bridgeton.

Both men were located and arrested without incident in Bridgeton, and the men were transferred to the custody of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office.

Chisolm and Cross were processed for the arrests by Detectives of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, and were charged with two counts of attempted murder (of the two police officers), robbery, conspiracy, and weapons charges.

Both men were lodged in the Atlantic County Justice Facility on $750,000 full cash / no 10% bail, where they remained as of Wednesday.

These charges are pending grand jury, and are an accusation and not proof of guilt. In all criminal cases, a charged defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office investigated the police-involved shooting, as mandated by New Jersey Attorney General Directive, and Ruberton issued a statement on Wednesday, in compliance with the Attorney General’s Law Enforcement Directive regarding uniform statewide procedures and best practices for conducting police-use-of-force investigations.

During the investigation, they secured and documented the scene, recovered and cataloged forensic and digital video evidence, interviewed all witnesses, including the three civilian victims, the police officer who was shot and seriously injured, the police officer who fired at the suspect, and all civilian witnesses known to have relevant information.

The investigation revealed that both officers were equipped with Body Worn Cameras (BWCs), but found that neither officer had sufficient time upon approaching the scene to activate the recording function.

The three robbery victims were interviewed as part of the investigation, and all three said they had been at the Tropicana earlier that night.

As they were leaving, they were approached by the three suspects, who asked if they could buy marijuana. The victims said no, and the attempted robbers walked away.

The victims then walked through the Caesar’s parking garage and to the alley behind Ruby Tuesday’s when they encountered the suspects again.

At this point, the victims say Damon pulled out a black revolver and demanded everything they had.

Two of the victims said they were forced to the ground, then up against a wall, and said Damon took their money. Chisolm held the shirt of one victim, and Cross acted as a lookout.

Damon then turned his gun on the third victim, pulled down his pants and searched for money.

This is when the officers showed up, and one of the victims said they saw Damon shoot one of the officers.
Two of the victims said they saw Damon shoot at the other officer as he fled. They also saw the officer return fire. They each ran, fearing for their lives.

Other independent witnesses corroborated the events as described by the officers and victims.

One witness was sitting on a bench in front of Ruby Tuesday’s on Atlantic Avenue when they saw an Atlantic City Police car turn right onto Arkansas from Atlantic Avenue. The witness got up from the bench to see what was going on, stood by a planter at Atlantic and Arkansas avenues and saw 2 or 3 people sitting on the ground.

When the officers pulled the vehicle up in front of the people on the ground, one officer exited the passenger side. The witness heard a gunshot and saw the officer fall to the ground. The witness then saw the other officer fire at the man who had shot at the officer.

A second witness was a private security guard patrolling the parking lot of Trump Plaza in a golf cart when they heard gunshots. Damon came out of the Caesar’s parking garage and was pointing a gun at the witness.

Damon forced forced this witness out of the golf cart and drove it away, driving around the Trump Plaza parking lot. He was unable to exit the lot so he abandoned the golf cart and walked towards Caesar’s.

This witness followed Damon towards the Caesar’s bus lobby outside entrance where Damon lay down near some bushes.

This is the witness who called police. Within moments, police found Damon lying next to the bushes near the Caesar’s entrance on Missouri and Pacific avenues. Emergency medical personnel responded to the location, and Damon was subsequently pronounced dead at the scene.

During the course of the investigation, Major Crimes detectives recovered videotape footage from two cameras mounted on the exterior of Ruby Tuesday’s Restaurant. This video footage captured the shootings.

Visible in the footage is Damon pointing a firearm at the officer as he is running from the scene. The muzzle flash of at least two shots taken by Damon firing on this officer as Damon is running from the scene is also captured on the video.

During the investigation, police found a black revolver in the Trump Plaza surface lot, near the location where Damon stole the second witness’s golf cart. The revolver had been loaded with 6 bullets, 4 of which had been fired.

The physical appearance and color of the gun matched the descriptions given by both officers, all three victims and the second witness. The ACPO Forensics Unit was able to lift latent fingerprints from the revolver. Those prints were matched to Damon.

Additionally, the New Jersey State Police Laboratory performed forensic analysis on a bullet fragment recovered from the officer’s head during surgery immediately after the incident. That fragment was forensically matched to the recovered revolver.

The autopsy performed on Damon determined he had sustained one bullet wound to the upper right back. The location of the wound was consistent with the digital video evidence which captured the incident, showing that he was turning back towards the officer who shot him with his right arm and pointing the gun towards the officer as he was running away.

Immediately after the shooting incident and the location of Damon’s body, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office began a county wide search for the other two suspects ultimately identified as Chisolm and Cross.

Multiple federal, state, county and municipal departments joined the effort to locate these two individuals which eventually spanned into Cumberland County.

With the assistance and efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New Jersey State Police, NJSP TEAMS, the Attorney General’s Atlantic City Task Force and Division of Criminal Justice Casino Unit, the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office, the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Department, the Atlantic County Justice Facility, the Pleasantville, Galloway, Egg Harbor Township, and Hammonton Police Departments, Chisolm and Cross were located by the same afternoon.