FREEHOLD- The early evening hours ofMarch 5 saw a group of children running for cover when they heard gunshots being fired outside the front entrance to the Rug Mill Towers apartment complex on Jackson Street.
The incident which sent the youngsters fleeing for safety was a gun being aimed and fired at least four times at a 17-yearold boy.
Michael Acker, who was at the scene, later told the News Transcript he was in a third-floor apartment when he heard shots being fired. He said he immediately looked out the window and saw the youngsters running to get inside the building.
“I knew this was bad,” he said. “This was no car backfiring.”
According to Freehold Borough police Lt. MarkWodell, no one was injured in the shooting incident that took place at about 6:15 p.m. Police headquarters are in the Rug Mill Towers.
The shooting incident set off a search for the suspect and eventually resulted in the arrest of two individuals.
According to Wodell, Daquin Calhoun, 18, of First Street, aimed a gun at the teenager and fired it four or five times. Calhoun has been charged with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes and unlawful possession of a weapon. No weapon has been recovered.
Wodell said when officers reached the scene of the shooting, they did not find the intended victim or the shooter. He said the officers found four shell casings. The intended victim was located several hours later by officers using information received from witnesses.
Wodell said that initially there was no information about the shooter because the intended victim was being uncooperative with police.
The investigation, led by Detective Tim Jablonski and Detective Michael George, determined that the intended victimwas at the Jackson Street apartment complex with his friends. Wodell said detectives are still trying to determine why Calhoun was attempting to harm the teenager.
On the same evening as the shooting, police eventually received a call froma person who informed them that the suspect was hiding in the basement of a home on First Street. The home was immediately put under surveillance and the Monmouth County Emergency Response Team was called in because Wodell said the person they were looking for may have been armed.
Police officers eventually entered the home and an apartment inside the residence that was occupied by ShakirHodsoll, 19. During the search, with permission, of Hodsoll’s apartment for a weapon, officers found more than 1 pound of a controlled dangerous substance believed to be marijuana.
Hodsoll was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and possession with intent to distribute.
At the same time the officers were entering Hodsoll’s apartment, police received a call from a person who told them the suspected shooter was in his own home on First Street, according to Wodell. Officers responded to that house and Calhoun was arrested by Patrolman Keith Bailey.
Calhoun was initially charged with possession of under 50 grams of a controlled dangerous substance believed to be marijuana and with possession of drug paraphernalia.
Calhoun and Hodsoll were both placed in the Monmouth County jail, Freehold Township. Calhoun’s bail was set at $2,000.
As the investigation into the Jackson Street shooting continued, police detectives connected Calhoun to the shooting and then filed charges associated with that incident against him. At that point Calhoun’s bail was raised to $90,000.

