23 years sought for shooter in Toms River hookah lounge killing

🔴 A gunman admitted to opening fire inside a Toms River hookah lounge.

🔴 Eric Manzanares pleaded guilty to a lower crime after initially being charged with murder.

🔴 Arrested in Virginia months later, he now faces up to 23 years in prison.

TOMS RIVER — An Asbury Park man has admitted to shooting up a hookah lounge, killing one man and badly hurting two others.

On Friday, Eric Manzanares pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated manslaughter and two counts of aggravated assault.

Manzanares is now 26 years old and may spend the next half of his life behind bars, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office. At sentencing on April 24, prosecutors will ask the Superior Court judge to impose a 23-year state prison term. His sentences for the manslaughter and assaults are expected to run at the same time.

A large hole in the glass at Top Tier Hookah in Toms River after a shooting on Aug. 27, 2022. (Tom's River Mayor's Office)

Fatal shooting at Top Tier Hookah Lounge

According to prosecutors, the shooting happened early on the morning of Aug. 27, 2022. Photos from the scene showed that the spray of bullets had created a large hole in the front glass window.

Around 1:30 a.m., gunfire rang out at Top Tier Hookah Lounge on Hooper Ave. in Toms River. Police found three men who had been shot.

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Nymere Tinsley, 25, was pronounced dead at the hospital. He had been shot in his lower abdomen. Two other Monmouth County men lived after one was shot in the stomach and the other had a bullet strike his elbow.

After the shooting, the township shut down the hookah lounge. Then-Mayor Maurice Hill said the owners were operating outside of their approved zoning use, and that it had been previously reported to the township's Quality of Life Task Force.

Manhunt and arrest in Virginia after Ocean County murder charge

Investigators found that Manzanares had shot all three victims. Later the same day, they charged him with murder and related offenses. However, police couldn't find him and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Months later, on April 7, 2023, Manzanares was arrested in Prince William County, Virginia. In January 2024, he was then extradited to New Jersey and taken to Ocean County Jail.