The manhunt that Awaaz Punjab reported earlier on Monday is over. The Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office has confirmed that Ricardo A. Ferrera, the 32-year-old Franklinville man accused of fatally shooting his girlfriend, Christina Cruz, has been captured, according to updated reports from Townsquare Media's South Jersey stations and a second report sourced directly to the prosecutor's office.
Source: 97.3 ESPN / Townsquare Media
The shooting happened in the first hours of Monday, November 2, inside a home on Porchtown Road in Franklin Township, Gloucester County, in South Jersey. Franklin Township police were called to the residence at about 12:36 a.m. after reports of gunfire, the prosecutor's office said.
According to prosecutors, a witness who was upstairs in the home told police there had been an argument between Ferrera and Cruz roughly two hours before the shooting. The witness reported hearing gunshots and came downstairs to find Cruz, 30, lying in the living room. A second witness, who was in a first-floor bedroom, told investigators of hearing the argument, then two gunshots and a thud.
Ferrera drove away from the house after the shooting, prosecutors said, and was not at the scene when officers arrived. Cruz was pronounced the victim of a fatal shooting, and a countywide search began within hours.
The manhunt Awaaz Punjab reported earlier on Monday
In its earlier report on Monday, Awaaz Punjab carried the prosecutor's armed-and-dangerous warning: Ferrera was described as about 6 feet 1 inch tall and 190 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, and was said to be known to frequent Millville, Vineland and Atlantic City. Members of the public were urged not to approach him and to call 911 on any sighting. That warning is now lifted with his capture.
Officials have not yet released the time, place or circumstances of the capture in the reports available so far, and Awaaz Punjab is not speculating on those details. What the prosecutor's office has confirmed is the fact of the capture itself and that the charges announced during the manhunt stand.
The charges, in full
Ferrera faces a first-degree murder charge, a second-degree charge of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and the offence of certain persons not to possess weapons, the prosecutor's office said. Under New Jersey law, a first-degree murder conviction can carry a sentence of 30 years to life in state prison. The charges are allegations: Ferrera is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in a court of law.
Source: Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office
Gloucester County Prosecutor Andrew B. Johns announced the case. The investigation brought together the Franklin Township Police Department, the prosecutor's Major Crimes Unit and Crime Scene Investigation Unit, and the New Jersey State Police, whose assistance Prosecutor Johns publicly acknowledged during the manhunt.
Ferrera is expected to be held in custody and brought before a Superior Court judge in Gloucester County for a first appearance and a detention hearing, where the state will set out whether it will ask for him to remain jailed while the case proceeds. Detectives are continuing the investigation, and anyone with information can still call the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office at (856) 384-5500.
Franklin Township is a largely rural community in Gloucester County, part of the wider South Jersey and greater Philadelphia region where many Punjabi and other South Asian families live, work and run businesses along the New Jersey Turnpike and Route 55 corridors. A fatal shooting inside a home, followed by a day-long armed-and-dangerous alert across Millville, Vineland and Atlantic City, drew attention well beyond the township on Monday.
No further official detail about the capture, a court date, or a possible motive had been released by Monday evening, Toronto time. Awaaz Punjab will update this story on its USA–New Jersey edition as the prosecutor's office and the court release more.