Jury finds 3 men guilty in 2018 shooting death of NJ youth football coach
Oct 31, 2024
The three men accused of shooting and killing a New Jersey man back in 2018 have been found guilty by a jury.
48-year-old Eugene Cosby, of Malaga, 28-year-old Will El-Bey, of Vineland, and 33-year-old Clifton Bailey, of Camden, were charged with murdering Joseph L. Jones on Aug. 9, 2018, after a youth football practice at Lakeside Middle School in Millville, New Jersey.
The Cumberland County jury deliberated for just under two hours before the three men guilty.
Each man faces murder and conspiracy to commit murder among other related charges.
Jones was shot ten times just after 8 p.m. in the parking lot of Lakeside Middle School. He had been taken to Inspira Medical Center in Vineland where he died from his injuries.
“This homicide was particularly unsettling because it was committed in broad daylight at a football practice field in front of numerous children,” Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said in 2018.
Cosby, El-Bey and Bailey were joined by other unknown people to coordinate the attack and they are accused of all traveling together to the school when the shooting took place.
At least one person involved was in a car that fled from the school northbound on Route 55 moments later, investigators said. Someone in the car then fired at police officers a short time later, but no one was hit and the officers did not return fire.
Cosby and Bailey then got rid of the cars that were used in the crime, investigators said. It was also discovered that Cosby and El-Bey convinced other people to give false information to officials.
Officials said that Cosby and El-Bey were arrested on Oct. 10, 2018, while Bailey was arrested on Nov. 12, 2018.
Three other unnamed suspects were arrested and all pled guilty for their involvement in this case.
Each of the men are facing up to life in prison with a mandatory period of parole ineligibility of 85% of the prison term imposed, officials explained.