A 28-year-old Neptune man was indicted by a Monmouth County grand jury Tuesday on charges he shot two men outside of a Main Street eatery in December.
FREEHOLD - A 28-year-old Neptune man was indicted by a Monmouth County grand jury Tuesday on charges he shot two men outside of a Main Street eatery in December.
Shortly before 2 a.m. on Dec. 27, 2014, Freehold Borough police responded to a report of shots fire outside of the Metropolitan Cafe on Main Street in downtown Freehold.
Timothy Parrish was charged with shooting two men outside a borough restaurant last month. (New Jersey Department of Corrections) When police arrived, they found two Howell Township men - ages 39 and 35 - with gunshot wounds. Both men were treated at an area hospital where they remained hospitalized for several days, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office said.
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Timothy Parrish, 28, of Neptune Township, was charged with the shootings on Jan. 8, the prosecutor's office said.
According to court and prison records, Parrish was convicted of aggravated assault in the shooting of a man during a fight at a party at a church social hall in Howell in 2003.
He was sentenced in 2005 to 10 years in prison and after serving more than eight years of his term he was released from Northern State Prison on July 20, 2013, according to records of the state Department of Corrections.
Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni announced Tuesday that the grand jury indicted Parrish on two counts of first-degree attempted murder, one count each of first-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and second-degree certain persons not to have weapons.
He is being held on $1.5 million bail with no 10-percent option, as set by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Honora O'Brien Kilgallen.
If convicted of attempted murder, Parrish faces a minimum sentence of 20 years to a maximum of life in a New Jersey state prison, and would be subject to the provisions of the "No Early Release Act" which would require him to serve 85 percent of the sentence imposed before becoming eligible for parole.
Due to his previous firearms conviction, if convicted of attempted murder or unlawful possession of a weapon, Parrish faces a mandatory extended-term sentence between 20 years to life imprisonment. Either sentence would further be subject to the provisions of the Graves Act, which would require him to serve a minimum of 42 months in prison before he is eligible for parole, the prosecutor's office said.
If convicted of possession of weapon for an unlawful purpose, he faces a mandatory extended term sentence of up to 20 years in prison, subject to the provisions of the Graves Act.
The case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Stacy Handler. Parrish is represented by Regina Ruocco, of Freehold.
Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
