FREEHOLD – A Long Branch man faces nine counts of indictment in connection with a July 2023 shooting in Asbury Park that left one person dead and two injured, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago announced Tuesday.
According to Santiago, 19-year-old Michael Sally was charged with one count each of premeditated murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and gang violence, two counts of second-degree aggravated assault, one count each of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon, and one count each of third-degree receiving stolen goods.
A second person has been charged because he is a minor and his case is still pending in family court, the prosecutor said.
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Shortly after 10:30 p.m. on July 3, 2023, Asbury Park police were called to the Asbury Park Gardens apartment complex on Atlantic Avenue for a report of a shooting, Santiago said. When officers arrived at the scene, they found the three victims, all adult males, suffering injuries.
The three victims were taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where two of them were treated for their injuries and released, the prosecutor said. The third victim, Lativity Lyons, 21, of Asbury Park, succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at 10:50 p.m. A fourth victim, the intended target of the shooting, was unharmed.
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The investigation into Lyons’ death, led by members of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Bureau and the Asbury Park Police Department, led to Sally being identified as one of those responsible, Santiago said. Sally was tracked down and arrested in Long Branch on June 5, 2024, by members of the Prosecutor’s Office, the Asbury Park Police Department, and the U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force. Sally was transported to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI), where he remains incarcerated pending a state request to keep him in custody.
Jenna Calderón covers breaking news and unsolved cases in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Before joining the press, she covered The Queen City for Cincinnati Magazine in Ohio. Reach her at 330-590-3903; [email protected]
