Couple each gets five years in Atlantic City shooting that wounded man

A couple who admitted to shooting a man in Atlantic City in 2002 each got five-year sentences Monday.

Jessica Bryant, 33, of Atlantic City, admitted to the Aug. 31, 2022 shooting, which was captured on surveillance video.

The 25-year-old victim was wounded in the hip and hand.

Bryant must serve at least 85 percent of her sentence, 3½ years, before she is eligible for parole.

Tawanne Williams, 42, of Philadelphia, pleaded to possession of a gun by a certain person and obstruction.

He must serve his entire sentence.

Bryant and Williams were dating at the time of the incident, when Bryant apparently got into an argument with the victim in front of 140 N. South Carolina Ave., according to the affidavit of probable cause previously obtained by BreakingAC.

Bryant “appears to be highly agitated,” the affidavit states. “She appears to be in a heated dispute and begins to kick out her legs in a stretching motion.”

Bryant then walks toward her vehicle and returns “approximately 27 seconds later with a small dark object, consistent in the size and shape of a handgun in her right hand.”

She flees in a 2020 Nissan Maxima with Florida tags that an investigation found was rented by Williams.

He was stopped in that vehicle nine days later, and police recovered a .380-caliber Ruger handgun later determined to be the one used in the shooting.

Bryant was not apprehended until Jan. 14, 2023.

While the mug shot of her released by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office following the plea, Bryant was emotional during a detention hearing Jan. 25, 2023.

During the detention hearing, Judge Patricia Wild called the circumstances “very chilling to the court.”

“This happened at 1:48 in the afternoon on the streets of Atlantic City,” she said. “That (the suspect) got out of a car, went back to the car, got a gun and shot somebody in cold blood on the streets of Atlantic City.”

The judge also questioned Bryant’s prior sentencing in an aggravated assault case for which she received just 37 days in jail.

“I had to question what in the world was going on,” Wild said of the sentence. “But good for her and good for the lawyer who did a good job.”

Bryant and Williams remain jailed. Bryant was moved to the Cape May County jail in February, although it was not clear why.