By: Najla Alexander
Authorities in Atlantic County announced that on Monday, Ibn Demps, 26, of Atlantic City, pleaded guilty on two separate indictments to second-degree aggravated assault and second-degree certain persons not to possess weapons.
Demps is expected to be sentenced to an aggregate term of eight years in New Jersey State Prison, subject to the Graves Act and the No Early Release Act, Atlantic County officials stated. Under the latter, Demps is required to serve 85% of his sentence before being eligible for parole.
Upon his release, Demps will be subject to three years of intensive parole supervision, ACPO officials say.
According to Atlantic County officials, on September 21, 2022, at approximately 4:39 p.m., members of the Atlantic City Police Department responded to a shooting in the area of 154 N. South Carolina Avenue. Upon arrival, police located a gunshot victim suffering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
A review of surveillance video led police to identify Ibn Demps as the shooter, ACPO authorities said. Surveillance video showed Demps playing dice with a group of men in the courtyard area of a housing complex before pulling out a handgun and shooting the victim at near point-blank range in the stomach area.
Demps was apprehended by police on December 9, 2022. Upon arresting Demps, who was found inside the same home where surveillance video recorded him fleeing after the shooting, the police located a handgun, according to Atlantic County officials.
ACPO officials stated that the State Police ballistics laboratory subsequently confirmed that the recovered handgun had been used to shoot the victim. Demps was scheduled to attend a Recovery Court session on the day of the shooting, but he failed to appear.
After the shooting, he was charged with a violation, and he is expected to receive a concurrent term in state prison. Demps also pleaded guilty to shooting a handgun at a local gun range in November 2022, Atlantic County officials said.
Atlantic County officials say Demps lied on the registration form by denying he was a convicted felon. Police determined that Demps had gone to the gun range after viewing cellphone videos, which were recovered during the shooting investigation.
Demps is scheduled to be sentenced later this month, and he remains incarcerated, ACPO officials say.