A South Jersey man currently in prison after being convicted on drug and gun charges has been indicted in the shooting death of a man in Pleasantville in May, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office said Wednesday.
A grand jury indicted 35-year-old Kalief Lyons on murder and related weapons charges, according to a news release. While awaiting sentencing in the unrelated case, prosecutors say he shot and killed 38-year-old Baseem Taliaferro on May 8.
Witnesses told police an argument between multiple people happened 20 minutes before Taliaferro was fatally shot. Police arrived to a first-floor apartment on West Pleasant Avenue to find him dead from a single shot to his chest.
Prosecutors say Lyons, briefly seen on video wearing a ski mask before removing it, walked away from the shooting about two hours before being arrested in Galloway Township.
In the case that sent him to prison, Lyons brandished a gun equipped with an illegally expanded magazine with 13 hollow-point bullets on Nov. 30, 2022. When he was arrested, he was found with 75 wax folds of suspected heroin and crack cocaine.
Following sentencing on May 28 in that case, Lyons was sent to state prison near Trenton.
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Eric Conklin may be reached at econklin@njadvancemedia.com.
