Attempted Murder Charge Filed In Mass Shooting At NJ House Party

FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP, NJ — The first attempted murder charge has been filed in connection with a New Jersey mass shooting that left three people dead and injured 11 others in Fairfield Township last month, authorities announced.

Kevin Dawkins, 36 of Bridgeton, has been charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting at the May 22 birthday party that was thrown for his step-brother, according to the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office. He will remain in jail pending trial, a Superior Court judge ruled during a detention hearing on Monday.

During the hearing, Dawkins' defense lawyer said he was inside the house with his girlfriend when they heard the shots fired. Dawkins then went outside, and his attorney said he found a gun in the driveway and picked it up before he was hit by someone he didn't know.

Surveillance video from the scene shows a crowd of hundreds of people standing outside the house and reacting to gunfire, according to the prosecutor.

One person is then seen leaving the home and firing two shots into the air before moving further down the driveway. About a minute later, the people standing outside react to more gunfire. The prosecutor says Dawkins is the man with the gun in the video.

After the incident in the driveway, Dawkins went home and changed his clothes. He said he returned to the party and saw there were police at the scene. He then left, his attorney says.

A few hours later, he was arrested after police found him lying near a tree behind an apartment complex near the scene of the shooting. He was clutching a gun in his right hand. Read more here: 'Gun Clutched In His Hand': NJ Mass Shooting Details Released

The prosecutor's office says Dawkins went to the Maple Garden Apartment Complex that night because he believed that's where the person who hit him at the party lived. He was arrested by Bridgeton police officers who were responding to an anonymous call about a person in possession of a handgun in the wooded section behind the complex.

The gun Dawkins had was the same gun that was used in the shooting, and the prosecutor's office says 16 shots were fired during the party. When police found Dawkins behind Maplewood Gardens, the gun had been reloaded, the prosecutor's office says.

Dawkins' step-brother, 39-year-old Darrell Dawkins, has also been charged in connection with the shooting.

He has been charged with unlawful possession of a handgun after police found a purple and silver 9 mm Taurus handgun in the trunk of one of the cars during the execution of a search warrant at his home. He will also remain in jail pending trial. Read more here: NJ Mass Shooting Updated: 3rd Person Dies, Another Arrest Made

On Friday, Larry McRae, 39 of Bridgeton was charged with unlawful possession of a handgun. He was arrested after investigators recovered two guns during their ongoing investigation into the shooting. Read more here: Third Arrest Made After Mass Shooting At NJ House Party

The three people killed in the shootings have been identified as Kevin Elliott, 30, and Asia Hester, 25, both of Bridgeton; and Braylin Holmes, 19, of Millville.

Hester had moved from Kingston, Jamaica, to pursue a career in nursing. She graduated from Rowan College of South Jersey's Cumberland County campus, and worked as a Patient Care Tech at Jefferson Health's Washington Township campus. Read more here: Grief For NJ Mass Shooting Victim Who Came To America For Nursing

Anyone with information is asked to call the New Jersey State Police Bridgeton Station at 856-451-0101 or submit a tip via the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office tip website at www.njccpo.org/tips. Anonymous tips are welcome.