Prosecutor says NJ woman shown ‘mercy’ by 79-year-old victim she shot
⚠️ A Jackson woman has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for shooting a 79-year-old.
➡️ Prosecutors said the plea deal came after the shooting victim asked for mercy.
🔴 The defendant was originally facing an attempted murder charge.
An Ocean County woman originally accused of trying to kill a 79-year-old victim now faces a few years in prison, thanks to “tremendous empathy” from the man she shot.
In Toms River on Monday, 34-year-old Marian Rojas, of Jackson, pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Kenneth T. Palmer to aggravated assault.
Rojas, a citizen of Paraguay, was initially charged with attempted murder for the incident last fall in Jackson Township.
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Victim survived shooting at Jackson Township home
On Oct. 24, 2025, at 9:15 p.m., Jackson Township Police responded to a shooting at a residence in the southern stretch of town on Jackson Pines Road.
Officers found an elderly man with a gunshot wound to his upper shoulder area, near his clavicle, according to an affidavit filed by investigators.
The victim had locked himself in a bedroom, and only emerged after police arrived.
He was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital.
The man said that Rojas was a friend, who he let stay at his home.
While they were having a conversation at some point, she went and got a pistol that he keeps in his bedroom, and shot him once, before leaving with the gun.
Investigators put out a call, describing Rojas and the victim's grey Mercedes Benz that was now missing from the victim's driveway.
She was pulled over in nearby Manchester Township by 10 p.m.
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Prosecutor credits victim's request for mercy
Under a plea deal, the state will recommend a seven-year prison term at Rojas’ sentencing on Aug. 24.
She would have to serve just under six years before being eligible for parole.
“This plea agreement was reached only after extensive discussions with the victim, who expressed an unequivocal desire to extend mercy to this defendant,” Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said on Wednesday.
“But for the victim’s compassionate and forgiving nature, this plea agreement would have never been contemplated by the state, let alone approved,” Billhimer said. “This defendant should consider herself very fortunate that the victim — in a show of tremendous empathy – requested that this case be resolved in this manner.”
Rojas has remained in custody at the Ocean County Jail since her arrest.
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