Monmouth serial shootings: Suspect ID'd in Route 33 shooting, other cases investigated

FREEHOLD TOWNSHIP - A 24-year-old woman is dead and her alleged killer in custody after a shooting late Thursday night on Route 33, and authorities are waiting for ballistics tests to determine whether the killing is tied to other shootings around Monmouth County.

Kader Mustafa, 36, was charged with murdering Sciasia Calhoun, a Freehold Borough resident and mother of a 1-year-old. He also was charged with attempted murder, two counts unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

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Watch the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office's press conference on the shooting of Sciasia Calhoun.

Calhoun was driving around 11:45 p.m. on Route 33 near Halls Mill Road when she was shot. The passengers — her boyfriend and child — were unhurt, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office. She was flown to CentraState Medical Center and was pronounced dead an hour after the incident.

Police remained at the scene of the shooting into the midmorning, blocking Route 33 in both directions for about eight hours. At one point a tow truck carried a small green sedan away from the scene. The car's driver-side rear window appeared to be covered in tape with two strips of white paint forming a right angle in one part that appeared to be a hole.

Mustafa was taken into custody about 8:10 a.m. Friday near Oakland Mills Road in Manalapan. He's scheduled to appear in state Superior Court on Saturday. Police recovered a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun and a .38-caliber revolver from his white Chevrolet Impala, said Lori Linskey, Monmouth County's first assistant prosecutor.

Officials Friday afternoon said they're "confident" there's no connection between Calhoun's murder and the shooting death of 54-year-old Earl "Everlasting" Sanders, who was gunned down Saturday as he drove on Route 18 in Colts Neck.

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The shooting, however, may be connected to two others: one on April 27 in Neptune and another on April 28 in Holmdel when shots were fired while people were driving. No one was injured in either instance, Linskey said. Authorities are waiting for ballistic testing results to determine if a connection exists.

In the Holmdel incident, a man reported that his car was "struck by a handgun round" in the rear trunk while traveling northbound on South Holmdel Road.

Authorities would not answer questions about how Mustafa got his weapons or if they were legally purchased, other than to note that Mustafa was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon.

Friends, family 'devastated'

Public records show Calhoun previously held a certification as a home health aide. Friends of hers, who declined to be identified by name, said Calhoun was funny, down-to-earth and all around a good person.

Those friends gathered at a park next door to Calhoun's house in Freehold Borough while waiting for her family to return home. Various family members and friends stopped by to show support, even though no one was home.

The victim's uncle, Robert Calhoun, told the Asbury Park Press on Friday morning that he was devastated by her death and that she was "one of his favorite nieces."

"Now I gotta live my life with anger, serious anger, pertaining to this," the Asbury Park resident said. "I don't want to be that way."

Rona Henderson, a lifelong friend of Calhoun's mother, Valerie, also stopped by to show support.

"When I first met her, she was a soft-spoken, lovely, gentle, kind person. She wasn't someone you see in the street, loud and obnoxious," Henderson said.

Henderson said she was shocked by the shooting, but when she found out the victim was Calhoun, she was devastated.

"I'm not saying that anyone deserves to die, but when someone you know is a kind and good person, it just takes you to another place."

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact Detective Andrea Tozzi of the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office at 800-533-7443, Detective Jamie Burdge of the Freehold Township Police Department at 732-462-7500 or reach out to the anonymous tip line at 800-671-4400 or text "MONMOUTH" plus the tip to 274637 (CRIMES).

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