Man Shot at Cliffwood Lodge Thursday Night, Police Say

ABERDEEN TOWNSHIP, NJ - A man and a woman were shot at while inside a parked car at an Aberdeen Township building Thursday night, police said, and the man was struck by the gunfire while the woman escaped unharmed. An Old Bridge Township man was arrested Saturday, Christmas Eve, and charged with the shooting, according to the Monmouth County prosecutor's office.

The building where the shooting occurred is at 191 County Road in the Cliffwood area of Aberdeen. The building is known locally as Butler Lodge No. 42 and is pictured above. A spokesman for the Monmouth County prosecutor's office called the building a Masonic Lodge, but a spokesman for the Freemasons told Patch the building does not have a recognized Masons charter.

Aberdeen Township police responded to a report of shots fired at the building at around 9:53 p.m. on Thursday. Upon their arrival, officers were initially unable to locate a victim. A local hospital, however, subsequently notified police that a male gunshot victim was being treated at their facility, and officers responded and spoke to the man, 32, of Somerset. He was treated at the hospital for non-life threatening injuries and was later released.

Police say that Tennyson D. Fairclough, 37, of Old Bridge, approached a car parked outside the lodge Thursday evening; a man and a woman were inside and both men knew the woman, police said. Fairclough began firing a handgun, striking the man, police said. Both victims fled and the male victim went to the hospital for medical attention. Fairclough pursued the female victim, attempting to shoot at her again, police said. The female victim escaped uninjured, and Fairclough fled the area.

Fairclough was arrested Saturday and charged with two counts of first-degree attempted murder as well as weapons offenses. He was held at the Monmouth County jail on a $1.5 million bail with no option to post 10 percent, as set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge David F. Bauman, who also ordered Fairclough have no contact with his victims and not to return to the scene of the crime.

Past Patch coverage: Masons Work to Save Aberdeen Lodge

Patch file photo