{"id":5191,"date":"2025-10-17T03:51:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T03:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/5191\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T03:51:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T03:51:17","slug":"bethlehem-restaurant-shooting-nj-man-in-custody-on-attempted-homicide-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/5191\/","title":{"rendered":"Bethlehem restaurant shooting: NJ man in custody on attempted homicide charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

An 18-year-old Warren County, New Jersey, man is in custody, suspected of shooting two people earlier this month in a Bethlehem restaurant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ashton J. Thomas, of the 300 block of Prospect Street in Stewartsville, was arraigned Tuesday on charges that include two counts of attempted homicide. <\/p>\n

District Judge Jordan Knisley sent him to Northampton County Prison with bail denied due to the severity of the charges.<\/p>\n

Bethlehem police<\/a> say they were called about 12:12 a.m. Friday, Aug. 8, to Sizzling Bites, 312 E. Third St. on Southside, for the report of gunfire inside the establishment.<\/p>\n

Officers found one victim sitting outside, bleeding from gunshot wounds to his right hand and right upper thigh, according to court records. He was taken to an area hospital. Police also learned of a second, female victim who was taken by friends to the hospital for treatment of multiple gunshot wounds.<\/p>\n

Investigators reviewed video footage provided by the restaurant\u2019s owner that showed about eight people \u201cin the direct line of fire, with more than 30 patrons present,\u201d according to court records.<\/p>\n

The gunman, subsequently identified as Thomas<\/a>, was accompanied by two others, according to police. The video shows the male shooting victim had slapped one of the people with Thomas, prompting a physical altercation, police wrote in court records outlining probable cause to arrest Thomas.<\/p>\n

Thomas allegedly at that point removed a handgun from his right pocket and fired five rounds at close range in the direction of both victims.<\/p>\n

Following the gunfire, Thomas and his two associates immediately exited through the front door and fled on foot, according to police. <\/p>\n

Investigators say they retrieved at the scene five spent .45-caliber shell casings, one full bullet and four projectiles.<\/p>\n

Additional video footage from nearby businesses showed Thomas entering a black Hyundai whose New Jersey license plate was visible, the court records state.<\/p>\n

Bethlehem police contacted a Phillipsburg detective who assisted in identifying Thomas and his two associates, according to court records. Thomas was the only one facing charges in the incident Tuesday.<\/p>\n

He is charged with two counts of attempted homicide, four counts of aggravated assault, two counts of simple assault, eight counts of reckless endangerment and a single count of carrying a firearm without a license.<\/p>\n

Knisley tentatively scheduled a preliminary hearing for Sept. 2 to determine if there is sufficient evidence to send the charges toward trial in the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas. <\/p>\n

Thomas\u2019s attorney, Gail Marr, did not immediately return a call for comment on his behalf Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An 18-year-old Warren County, New Jersey, man is in custody, suspected of shooting two people earlier this month…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-5191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}