Shooting suspects still sought

LAKEWOOD — Police have not yet arrested any suspects wanted in connection with the June 5 shooting of a 62-year-old woman who was driving an ice cream truck and a 20-year-old female passer-by, according to Lakewood police Capt. Rob Lawson.

Lawson said police know the identities of the suspects, but have not yet apprehended them. Police are still searching for three male juveniles wanted in connection with the apparently random shooting.

Both women were assaulted with either a BB gun or a pellet gun, Lawson said.

The ice cream vendor was shot shortly after 3 p.m. at East Fifth Street and Manetta Avenue after she had stopped to serve one of three black males ice cream, Lawson said. The woman told police one of the males approached the truck and asked for an ice cream while the two other males stood a few feet behind him.

"She handed him the ice cream, he paid her for it and then she heard a loud pop and was struck in the neck," Lawson said. "That’s when she got out and yelled for help before getting back inside and driving home."

A witness heard the woman’s cry for help and called 911. When the witness returned, the victim and the truck were gone.

Patrolman Ken Work was dispatched to East Fifth Street to look for the ice cream vendor. Neither Work nor other officers responding to the scene could find the truck or the victim. However, Detective Larry Doyle found the witness who had called 911 by canvassing the area and speaking with residents.

Other witnesses said they had seen the ice cream truck being driven west on East Fifth Street.

A group of young people told Patrolman Sean Doyle they saw other young people shooting what appeared to be a pellet gun or a paintball gun. A few minutes later, the police dispatch received a call from Kimball Medical Center reporting the arrival of a female with a gunshot wound to the neck.

Detective James Finnegan went to the hospital to interview the woman. While at the hospital, he found another victim, a 20-year-old woman, who had been shot in the elbow as she was walking down East Fifth Street.

"The victim who had been driving the ice cream truck had initially gotten out of her truck and yelled for help, then got back in and drove home, approximately a mile away," Lawson said. "She knew she had been wounded, but she drove home first before going to the hospital in a different vehicle."

At the hospital, doctors determined she had two wounds to the left neck or collarbone area, Lawson said. An X-ray showed two projectiles lodged underneath her skin. Due to the location of the projectiles, the woman was transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, the area’s regional trauma center located in Neptune, Lawson said.

A team from the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department responded to Kim-ball Medical Center to collect clothing and evidence.

Since Lakewood police have not released the names of the shooting victims, the condition of the woman who was transferred to the trauma center could not be determined without knowing her identity, said a spokesperson at Jersey Shore Uni-versity Medical Center.

— Joyce Blay