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TRENTON - Attorney General
Anne Milgram and Criminal Justice Director
Deborah L. Gramiccioni announced that a Camden
man pleaded guilty today in connection with
a December 2007 shooting investigated by the
Camden Shoot Team under the CeaseFire program.
According to Director Gramiccioni,
Eli Holmes, 19, pleaded guilty before Superior
Court Judge Thomas A. Brown Jr. to aggravated
assault, a charge contained in an August 2008
indictment obtained by the Division of Criminal
Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau.
The state will recommend that Holmes be sentenced
to eight years in prison. Under the state’s
No Early Release Act, he must serve 85 percent
of the sentence without possibility of parole.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 1.
In pleading guilty, Holmes
admitted he shot a 16-year-old male shortly
before midnight on Dec. 8, 2007, in the 800
block of Chelton Avenue in Camden. The Shoot
Team’s investigation revealed that the
shooting stemmed from a drug dispute. Holmes
fired several shots from a semi-automatic
handgun, hitting the victim in the abdomen
and side. The victim was taken by private
vehicle to Virtua Hospital before police arrived
and later was transferred to Cooper University
Hospital. He survived his wounds.
The Shoot Team was immediately
dispatched to the scene, the hospital and
other locations to investigate the shooting
under the CeaseFire program. The Shoot Team
in Camden is made up of detectives and investigators
from the New Jersey State Police, the Camden
City Police Department and the Camden County
Prosecutor’s Office.
As a result of the rapid response,
Shoot Team members were able to obtain statements
from eyewitnesses and quickly identified Holmes
as the shooter. Holmes was arrested the next
day at his sister’s house. Soon after
the arrest, police seized the gun he used,
with two bullets in the magazine, as a relative
carried it from the sister’s house wrapped
in clothing in a baby’s car seat.
Deputy Attorney General Kristen
Harberg, assigned to the CeaseFire program
in Camden, is prosecuting the case. Attorney
General Milgram credited the investigators
for their exemplary work, including Investigator
Michael Dougherty of the Camden County Prosecutor’s
Office, who was lead investigator; Detective
Joseph Loschiavo of the New Jersey State Police;
and the following officers from the Camden
City Police Department: Officer Luis Sanchez,
Detective Joe Rivera, Sgt. Frank Ruiz, Officer
Dave Richman, Officer Pascual Irizarry, and
Officer Charles Holland.
Under the CeaseFire program,
the Shoot Team in Camden responds to all non-fatal
shootings within the city limits of Camden,
conducting an intensive investigation of each
shooting as if it were a homicide. The Camden
County Prosecutor’s Office prosecutes
most of the resulting cases, while the Division
of Criminal Justice within the Attorney General’s
Office also handles some cases.
In addition to the law enforcement
component, the second crucial component of
CeaseFire is community outreach. Trained community
outreach workers who have familiarity and
connections with the City of Camden visit
shooting victims and witnesses and provide
support and encouragement for them to work
with law enforcement. They also sponsor various
community programs aimed at reducing violence
and counteracting the “no snitching”
mentality which has hampered law enforcement
efforts to solve crimes and make Camden safer.
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