Man Admits Shooting Driver Who Got Lost In Ocean County

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Toms River man has admitted to shooting a driver who got lost and found himself at a shopping complex in Lakewood in 2024, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

Million Brown-Bey, 49, pled guilty before Superior Court Judge Kimarie Rahill to aggravated assault and being a certain person not to possess a weapon in the shooting on Jan. 7, 2024, at West Gate Shopping Complex, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

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Lakewood police received several 911 calls about 10 p.m. that day reporting gunshots, the prosecutor's office said.

A short time later, a 27-year-old man from Asbury Park arrived at Ocean University Medical Center in Brick with gunshot wounds to both of his arms, Billhimer said. The victim was treated for his injuries and released.

Investigators from the prosecutor's office Major Crime Unit and Lakewood detectives learned the victim arrived at a residence on Hillside Avenue and a person — later identified as Brown-Bey — approached his vehicle and fired at least one round, hitting the victim in both arms, authorities said.

The victim was able to drive himself to the hospital. He later told police he was driving to Toms River when he got lost and pulled into the West Gate complex.

Authorities were able to identify Brown-Bey as shooter, and he was arrested a week later. He has been in the Ocean County Jail since his arrest. He was indicted in the case in June 2024.

Brown-Bey is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 18, with prosecutors expected to seek a term of 10 years in state prison on the aggravated assault charge, subject to the terms of the No Early Release Act, and 10 years on the weapons charge with five years of parole ineligibility on the weapons charge. Then sentences would run concurrently, the prosecutor's office said.