A 49-year-old Toms River man has admitted responsibility for a shooting in Lakewood that left another man wounded in both arms, pleading guilty Thursday to aggravated assault and a weapons offense in a case dating back to January 2024.

Million Brown-Bey entered his guilty pleas on October 22 before Ocean County Superior Court Judge Kimarie Rahill, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer. Prosecutors intend to seek a ten-year state prison sentence when Brown-Bey returns to court for sentencing on December 18.

The charges stem from a shooting on January 7, 2024, when Lakewood police received reports of gunfire in the vicinity of the West Gate Shopping Complex.

Shortly afterward, a 27-year-old man arrived at Hackensack Meridian Health Ocean Medical Center in Brick Township suffering from gunshot wounds to both arms. Despite his injuries, the victim had managed to escape the scene and drive himself to the hospital, where he received treatment before being released.

Investigators subsequently determined that the victim had driven to a residence on Hillside Avenue when an individual approached his vehicle and discharged a firearm at least once. The gunfire struck the man in both arms, leaving him injured but able to flee.

Detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit and the Lakewood Police Department conducted an investigation that identified Brown-Bey as the gunman.

Four days after the shooting, on January 11, 2024, investigators arrested Brown-Bey and transported him to the Ocean County Jail. He has remained incarcerated there since his arrest.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a ten-year sentence in New Jersey State Prison for aggravated assault, subject to the state’s No Early Release Act, which generally requires offenders to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences before becoming eligible for parole.

The prosecution will also seek a concurrent ten-year sentence for the weapons offense, which carries a mandatory five-year period of parole ineligibility. Because the sentences would run concurrently, Brown-Bey would serve them at the same time rather than consecutively.

The case was prosecuted by Supervising Assistant Prosecutors Christopher Heisler and Kaitlyn Burke.

Prosecutor Billhimer acknowledged the work of investigators from his office and the Lakewood Police Department, along with personnel from the South Toms River Police Department, Lakehurst Police Department and Ocean County Sheriff’s Office, whose combined efforts led to Brown-Bey’s identification, arrest and guilty pleas.

Brown-Bey is scheduled to be sentenced on December 18, 2026.

{Matzav.com}