central New Jersey

2 Shot Outside PNC Bank Arts Center After J. Cole, Big Sean Concert in New Jersey: Cops

State police on Tuesday were looking for a suspect and witnesses to a shooting that left two men wounded outside a hip-hop concert in New Jersey.

The shooting happened late Monday in the parking lot outside the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, causing panic among the crowd attending a show by Big Sean and J. Cole.

State troopers, using K-9 units and a helicopter, scoured a wooded area near the amphitheater. State police announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.

The victims, ages 23 and 24, were in critical but stable condition at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, according to police. Their names have not been released.

Eighteen-year-old Omayma Bougdour told the Daily News that gunfire began after an argument broke out in the parking lot. She says "everyone started sprinting and stampeding."

One of the men was "not responsive," and the other was breathing heavily and begging for a drink of water, she said.

Another witness, Mike Lefanto, told the newspaper that he was walking to his car with his 13-year-old daughter when he saw the two victims speaking to a woman in the parking lot, "talking about her body." He said a man soon approached the victims and fired about seven shots.

"He took those two dudes out right away," Lefanto said. "It looked like he knew what he was doing."

Big Sean and J. Cole are touring together. They're to perform at Madison Square Garden in New York on Tuesday.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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