Boy Fatally Shot In The Back, Youth Charged, NJ Prosecutor Says

LAKEWOOD, NJ — A boy has died after being shot in the back Sunday night in Lakewood, and another child has been charged with murder in the shooting, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Monday.

Neither the victim nor the youth charged have been identified.

The shooting was reported at 8:17 p.m. on Pearl Street and found the boy with a gunshot wound to the back, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

The boy was taken to Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood where he succumbed to his injuries, the prosecutor's office said.

Investigators learned another youth was responsible for shooting and killing the victim, Billhimer said. That youth has been charged with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon, and is being held at the Ocean County Juvenile Detention Center, the prosecutor's office said.

Billhimer said the Major Crime Unit of the prosecutor's office, Lakewood police and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit investigated.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information about it is asked to contact Lakewood police at 732-363-0200.