Christopher Matlosz Remembrance Day in Englishtown

Englishtown, NJ - Thursday, January 14, 2016 marks the five-year anniversary of when Lakewood Police Officer Christopher Matlosz was fatally gunned down in the line of duty.

Matlosz, pictured above, was shot three times in the head at close range as he sat in his patrol car on Jan. 14, 2011 in Lakewood. He was 27 years old at the time and engaged to be married. Englishtown declared January 14 “Christopher Matlosz Remembrance Day,” and many people throughout Monmouth County have blue lights (or any light) up to remember the young officer. Englishtown police officers can be seen wearing a mourning band today.

The murder happened when Matlosz was a Lakewood police officer, but he had previously served as a police officer in Englishtown. Matlosz was a full-time police officer in Englishtown between 2004 and 2006, when he left to join the Lakewood Police Department. It was a longtime dream of his to serve as a Lakewood officer.

Jahmell Crockam was convicted in 2012 for the murder, dubbed “execution-style” by some, and is currently serving out his lifetime prison sentence. Matlosz had stopped Crockham to speak to him on Joe Parker Road in Lakewood when Crockham pulled out his gun and fired three times, killing the officer. Matlosz, sitting in his car, never even had time to grab his weapon.

In December, Crockham’s public defender asked for the murder conviction to be overturned.