Barnegat man pleads guilty in 2022 Atlantic City shooting

A former Atlantic City resident admitted shooting a man in 2022, and then hiding the gun.

Louis Stokes III, 27, who now lives in Barnegat, faces five years in prison with 3½ year of parole ineligibility.

He already has been in jail for nearly half of that required time.

Stokes was arrested Oct. 14, 2022, after police responded to Sewell Avenue, where they found a 19-year-old man had been shot in the leg.

The victim — identified only as Z.H. — told police that he was walking past a group of men when he got into a verbal argument with Stokes.

Z.H. said the man then pulled out a gun and fired at him repeatedly, according to the affidavit reported by BreakingAC at the time.

Police found eight 9mm shell casings at the scene.

Surveillance video from the scene showed three men run into a house at 1107 Adriatic Ave. immediately after the shooting, the affidavit states.

Police surrounded the apartment and called out the occupants, which included two babies and Stokes’ mother, who gave consent to search her residence, according to the affidavit.

Three handguns were found inside a diaper bag on the second floor. The guns were identified as a .40-caliber Glock 23 semiautomatic handgun, a Taurus revolver and a 9mm Smith & Wesson semiautomatic handgun.

A window of the room was propped open, and police found another bag on the windowsill of an abandoned property next door “within arms-length,” the affidavit stated.

There was a second 9mm Smith & Wesson inside the bag. It had been reported stolen from Georgia.

Ballistics testing linked that gun to the shooting.

Stokes was released from seven months before the shooting. Stokes has just been released from prison seven months before the shooting, after serving nearly a year, state Department of Corrections records show.

After his plea Thursday, Stokes' defense attorney asked that he be released pending sentencing. The judge denied the request.

He remains in the Atlantic County Justice Facility.His sentencing is set for September.