A Bronx man was apprehended in New York and charged in the fatal shooting of one man and the critically injuring of another at the Loop Inn Motel on June 21, 2017.
John Mingo, 29, was apprehended on April 9 by U.S. Marshals in Brooklyn. He was charged with one count of murder in the first degree and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, according to a joint statement provided by Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey and Director Robert Hubner of the Woodbridge Police Department.
Mingo, who allegedly fled after the shooting and remained at large, also was charged with armed robbery and conspiracy to commit armed robbery, officials said.
He is currently in custody in New York. It was not immediately known when he would be returned to New Jersey.
Three other suspects, Martin Martinez Jr., Cynthia Rivera and Chelsey Mendoza, all from the Bronx, New York, were charged previously in the murder and are being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick.
“I thank and commend the many dedicated law enforcement agents and officers whose well-coordinated and unceasing efforts led to the arrest of the defendant, including those from the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, the New York Police Department Warrant Squad, the Woodbridge Police Department and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office,” Carey said in the statement.
The investigation began when Woodbridge police were called to the Loop Inn Motel in the Avenel section of Woodbridge around 4:53 a.m. on June 21, 2017, where they found the victims. The 21-year-old victim, Andrew Torres, of the Bronx, was pronounced dead at the scene at 5:36 a.m. The second victim, a 24-year-old man, also from the Bronx, was taken to University Hospital in Newark in critical condition, according to the statement.
An investigation determined Mingo, Martinez, Rivera and Mendoza allegedly were involved in the incident at the motel. Anyone with further information should call Detective Santiago Tapia of the Woodbridge Police Department at 732-634-7700, or Detective David Abromaitis of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-4436.