Bridgeton man sought in Wildwood shooting, charged with attempted murder

Authorities are still searching for Angel Cruz, a 27-year-old Bridgeton man charged in a June 17 shooting on North Street that left a 47-year-old Wildwood man hospitalized. Cruz was charged June 18 with first-degree attempted murder and multiple second-degree weapons offenses, and investigators are treating him as a fugitive.

The case now stretches across Cumberland County’s municipal lines, tying a Bridgeton defendant to a Wildwood victim in a shooting that prosecutors have elevated to one of the county’s most serious charges. The Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office has kept the matter open as Cruz remains unaccounted for, leaving local law enforcement with an active fugitive search instead of a closed arrest.

The timeline is tight and still unresolved. The shooting happened June 17 on North Street, and the charging decision followed the next day, June 18. As of July 3, Cruz has been at large for 15 days since the charge was filed, and authorities have not announced an arrest. The victim’s hospitalization underscores the severity of the attack and why prosecutors filed first-degree attempted murder along with weapons counts.

No motive, weapon description or fuller account of the confrontation has been released in the case details now public. What is clear is that Cumberland County authorities still want Cruz located, and the search remains the immediate consequence for residents watching a violent case move from an alleged shooting in Wildwood into an active manhunt centered on Bridgeton and the county court system.