Two plead guilty to manslaughter in 2019 Asbury Park, NJ shooting

ASBURY PARK — More than two and a half years after a 23-year-old resident was fatally shot on a city basketball court, and two years after indictments were handed up in the case, two men have pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter charges, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

In a release Friday, the prosecutor's office said Chyrod Freeman, 23, and Prince Young, 24, both of Asbury Park, also pleaded guilty Thursday to second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

Freeman additionally pleaded guilty to second-degree aggravated assault, and Young pleaded guilty to first-degree conspiracy and second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, the prosecutor's office said.

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In the late evening hours of June 14, 2019, Asbury Park police responded to reports of a shooting at the Prospect Avenue basketball courts, in the area of Atlantic Avenue, and found Jehadje McMillian suffering from a gunshot wound. McMillian died at a hospital early the following morning.

Freeman, Young, Jahquan Allah, 27, of Asbury Park, and Scimel Jackson, 30, of Lakewood, were all indicted in January 2020 on a combined 17 counts related to the homicide of McMillian "or other incidents that ushered in a rash of gun violence in Asbury Park during the summer of 2019," the prosecutor's release said.

Allah is accused of firing a handgun at Young during the shooting that killed McMillian, according to investigators. The cases of Allah and Jackson remain pending, and they are next scheduled for court appearances in February.

Freeman and Young are both expected to be sentenced in June to 20 years in state prison, under the conditions of the No Early Release Act which requires they serve 85% of that sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

Patrick Lavery is New Jersey 101.5's afternoon news anchor. Follow him on Twitter @plavery1015 or email patrick.lavery@townsquaremedia.com.