A Lakewood man accused of fatally gunning down a police officer early this year had previously told someone that he would “kill a cop before going to jail,” a prosecutor revealed in court Monday.
William J. Heisler, an Ocean County prosecutor, said Jahmell W. Crockam of Edgewood Court made the statement to a witness in conversations about the possibility of his going to jail, before Lakewood Police Officer Christopher Matlosz was shot to death Jan. 14.
Then, on the day of the murder, someone relayed information to Crockam that police were looking for him in the Golf View apartment complex in Lakewood and that they had warrants for his arrest, Heisler said. Someone who overheard the conversation “handed Mr. Crockam a revolver and said, ‘Get out’,” Heisler said.
“That was five minutes before Officer Matlosz was murdered,” he said.
The key pieces of information about the state’s case against Crockam in the murder of Matlosz were revealed publicly for the first time Monday, when Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels scheduled Crockam’s trial for Jan.17 and asked Heisler what proofs he plans to present at the trial.
Heisler also said there were three eyewitnesses to the murder, including one who positively identified Crockam as the person who walked toward Matlosz shooting a gun. The witness said the shooter fired a final “contact shot” to Matlosz’ temple, according to Heisler.
Crockam confessed the murder to other witnesses, including one who drove him to Camden after the shooting, someone who tried to coax him to turn himself in and cellmates at the Ocean County Jail in Toms River, Heisler said.
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
5 Responses
The criminal element in Lakewood is a very serious problem many violent crimes are committed and it wont be long chas vesholom that it will affect our community.
It’s not enough to prosecute crockham alone. What about the animal who have him the gun and told him to flee. he must be brought to justice as well.
Crime all over NY has gone up wildly. (statistics are blind). THANK YOU BLOOMBUG for your good care. guess till it ain’t reach home to you personally you won’t do anything about it.
@#2:
1) News flash, Lakewood isn’t one of the five boroughs of NYC
2) If you’re ignoring the statistics that show that crime in NYC is down, what are your sources for claiming that it is up?
thenagain, do you actually believe the stats the NYPD puts out, you know Bloomberg is just finagaling numbers for his advantage, I see crime and a sense of lawlessness returning.
I don’t know if Bloomberg is “finagling numbers”. I do know that #2 has no numbers at all, finagled or not. Just hot air.