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Noah Phelps of Monroe Township and Glenn Franzson of Jackson Township were arrested, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said in a news release on Tuesday, Aug. 20. The two were facing charges in the shooting on Thursday, June 27.
Jackson police responded to the shooting report on Larsen Road at around 12:20 a.m. and officers found a 27-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his face. He was treated at Jersey Shore University Medical Center and released from the Neptune hospital.
Investigators said the man and a woman were sitting in a parked vehicle outside a home when a blue car parked in front of them. Two men approached their vehicle and knocked on the window.
As the victim got out of the vehicle, one suspect started hitting him. Michael Vulpis, 26, was accused of shooting the man in the face before the suspects left the scene.
Vulpis was arrested at his Freehold Borough home on Wednesday, July 3. He was charged with attempted murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon, and being a certain person not to possess a weapon.
Vulpis was first charged with attempted murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon, and being a certain person not to possess a weapon or ammunition. He was additionally charged on Friday, Aug. 16 with conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit witness tampering.
Investigators also said Phelps, 24, was the other suspect in the attack and that he plotted with Vulpis to assault the victim. An arrest warrant was issued for Phelps on Thursday, Aug. 15 and he surrendered at the Freehold Township Police Department the next day.
Phelps was charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Prosecutors said Franzson, 32, and Vulpis tried to contact the victim to get him to give a false statement to investigators. Police executed a search warrant on Franzson's home on Aug. 15 and found a Polymer80 ghost gun with a high-capacity magazine, along with an undisclosed amount of methamphetamine and cocaine.
Franzson was charged with witness tampering, conspiracy to commit witness tampering, possession of a weapon without a serial number, possession of a high-capacity ammunition magazine, possession of cocaine, and possession of methamphetamine.
Phelps and Franzson were held at the Ocean County Jail to await detention hearings. Vulpis has remained in the county jail since his arrest.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, assisted investigators in Monmouth and Ocean counties in the case.
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