On the morning of December 19, 2021, 36-year-old Nicholas Hardy of Toms River was fatally shot in an apartment complex on River Avenue in Lakewood, New Jersey. Police responded to reports of gunfire and found Hardy and 32-year-old Sergio Chavez-Perez, of Lakewood, both with fatal gunshot wounds to the head.

Authorities arrested 42-year-old Tyshaun Drummond of Toms River at the scene after he refused officers’ commands and was subdued with a taser. Prosecutors said Drummond had been at an overnight party in the same building. Trial testimony described a motive tied to an affair and said Drummond first shot Hardy in a downstairs apartment, then went upstairs and shot Chavez-Perez in front of his wife and children; Hardy was shot again as he tried to flee.

A jury convicted Drummond of two counts of murder, burglary and weapons offenses, and he was sentenced to 60 years in state prison.