TOMS RIVER — An Asbury Park man has admitted to fatally shooting one person and wounding two others during a 2022 incident outside a Toms River hookah lounge, authorities said.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer announced that Eric Manzanares, 26, entered guilty pleas on February 27, 2026, to one count of aggravated manslaughter and two counts of aggravated assault before Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan.
Under a plea agreement, prosecutors will seek a 23-year sentence in New Jersey State Prison on the aggravated manslaughter charge and 10 years on each aggravated assault conviction. The terms would run concurrently and be subject to the state’s No Early Release Act, requiring Manzanares to serve at least 85% of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole. Sentencing is scheduled for April 24, 2026.
Police were called to Top Tier Hookah Lounge on Hooper Avenue around 1:20 a.m. on August 27, 2022, following reports of gunfire. Officers arriving at the scene discovered three men with gunshot wounds.
Nymere Tinsley, who was shot in the lower abdomen, was taken to Community Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. Two other victims — Anthony Miller, 30, of Neptune Township, and Jamal Bland, 26, of Asbury Park — were transported to Jersey Shore University Medical Center. Both were treated for their injuries and later released.
A joint investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit, Toms River police and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Investigation Unit determined that Manzanares was responsible for the shooting, officials said.
He was initially charged with murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and multiple weapons offenses. Authorities issued a warrant for his arrest and entered his information into a national law enforcement database.
Manzanares was apprehended April 7, 2023, in Prince William County, Virginia. He was held at the Prince William-Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center before being extradited to Ocean County on January 24, 2024. He has remained in the Ocean County Jail since that time.
Billhimer credited Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Jamie Schron and Senior Assistant Prosecutor Stephen Burke for prosecuting the case and thanked the multiple local, county, state and federal agencies that assisted in the investigation and arrest.
