Man Who Shot At Bicyclist In Ocean County Sentenced

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River man has been sentenced to six years in prison in a May 2024 shooting, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

Anthony M. Zigarelli, 22, of Manchester Township, was sentenced on Friday to six years in prison by Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan, for aggravated assault, subject to the No Early Release Act, meaning he must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before he is eligible for be parole consideration.

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He also was sentenced to five years in prison with five years of parole ineligibility on the charge of being a certain person not to possess a weapon in the same incident. The sentences will run concurrently.

Zigarelli pled guilty to the charges before Ryan on June 1.

The incident happened in the area of Camino Medio and Camino Verde shortly after 4 p.m. on May 14, 2024, the prosecutor's office said. A man was riding his bicycle through the area and rode past two people — later identified as Zigarelli and Anthony G. Ventrice, 19, of Toms River — standing outside a vehicle, authorities said.

As the victim rode past, Ventrice pulled out a handgun and began firing. Then he and Zigarelli got in the vehicle and drove past the bicyclist, with Zigarelli firing additional shots, the prosecutor's office said.

The bicyclist was not hit by any of the shots and was uninjured in the attack but authorities received multiple 911 calls reporting gunshots, the prosecutor's office said.

Ventrice — who was a juvenile at the time of the incident — on May 15, 2024, and was charged with attempted murder, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, and was arrested May 22, 2024, authorities said.

He was waived to adult court in May 2025 and moved to the Ocean County Jail. He pleaded guilty before Ryan to aggravated assault on June 1. His sentencing remains pending.

Zigarelli was charged on May 28, 2024, and arrested May 29, 2024, and has been in the Ocean County Jail since then.