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A defense attorney entered a not guilty plea to the charges read against Mujahideen Abdullah, 26, including first-degree murder and heroin and weapons possession, as loved ones of Jeffrey Mansilla looked on.
Mansilla, 39, had launched All Access Car & Limo Company and was about to be married when Abdullah chased him from a nightclub in Belleville to Route 80 in Saddle Brook before dawn on June 12, 2014 , prosecutors said.
CLIFFVIEW PILOT broke the story of the shooting
There, they said, he opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon from a silver Infiniti.
Mansilla was hit in the hip with one of three shots that went through the driver’s side door of his 2013 GMC Yukon near milepost 63.
The bullet passed through him, a law enforcement source with direct knowledge of the case told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
Mansilla steered off the highway, where a passenger took the wheel and drove him to Hackensack University Medical Center.
He was later pronounced dead at HUMC.
Investigators arrested Abdullah and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Jomaris Gonzalez, at their Newark apartment in late July.
Gonzalez is charged with possession of large quantities of both cocaine and heroin with the intent to distribute the drugs, maintaining a drug production facility, and interfering with police efforts to arrest Abdullah.
She and Abdullah — also known as “Mu” and “Murollack” — face several charges related to drug possession and distribution in Essex County.
Gonzalez had her scheduled arraignment postponed today after it was discovered that her attorney was out of state.
ALSO SEE:
Judge reduces bail for woman charged in Hackensack limo driver’s murder
‘Rot in hell!’ loved one of Hackensack man fatally shot on Route 80 shouts at accused gunman
Arrests in Route 80 shooting death can’t console grieving family of Hackensack victim
STORY / PHOTOS: Mary K. Miraglia, CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter
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