A Neptune Township woman and a Long Branch man are the recipients of a 31-count indictment for their roles in a trio of attempted murders that took place in the span of four days in various spots across Monmouth County in late 2021/early 2022, according to a statement from Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey.

The first of the reported shootings occurred on December 29 and it sent Neptune Township Police to the 400 block of Fisher Avenue where officers found a number of used 9mm shell casings and a man who had been shot near a parked vehicle, around 12:30 am, who was later brought to Jersey Shore University Medical Center for treatment.

Then on January 1, 2022, Neptune Township Police went to the 300 block of Neptune Boulevard on a report of shots fired, and once on scene around 10:00 pm, they found 9mm shell casings and a man suffering from injuries sustained in the shooting, who was later brought to JSUMC for treatment.

It was at this time that police were able to tie this incident to another shooting moments before that one on the 2000 block of Milton Avenue where someone tried to shoot the same man who was shot days earlier in a park in Long Branch.

The gunman's firearm jammed and they then fled the area.

The MCPO Major Crimes Bureau, Neptune Township Police, and Long Branch Police teamed up on the investigation and were able to identify 25-year-old Kahniaha X. Dean of Neptune Township and 26-year-old Ishawn A. Collazo of Long Branch as the suspects and they were arrested on January 14, 2022, by Woodbridge Police who were responding to a man brandishing a gun outside a nightclub at the time.

Police searched the vehicle and found a loaded handgun under one of the seats, the same one used in the shootings, as well as a large amount of cocaine, drug paraphernalia, and a loaded submachine gun with a folding stick.

The Monmouth County investigating team learned that the day before the first attempted murder, the shooting victim from the third incident was threatened by Dean at gunpoint in a park in Long Branch, but police said that no shots were fired.

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Dean and Collazo are now both charged with three counts of Attempted Murder (1st degree), three counts of Conspiracy to Commit Murder (1st degree), four counts of Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose (2nd degree), two counts of Possession of a Firearm while Committing CDS Offenses (2nd degree), and one count of Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance with Intent to Distribute (2nd degree).

Dean is also being charged with one count of Aggravated Assault by Pointing a Firearm (4th degree), one count of Making Terroristic Threats (3rd degree), six counts of Unlawful Possession of a Weapon (2nd degree), and one count of Possession of a Weapon for an Unlawful Purpose (2nd degree).

Collazo is also being charged with five counts of Unlawful Possession of a Weapon (1st degree) and four counts of Certain Persons Not to Have Weapons (2nd degree).

This case has been assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Luciano.

If convicted, Dean and Collazo would face up to 20 years on each first-degree criminal charge, as well as up to 10 years on the second-degree charges.

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