Camden man pleads guilty in teen's shooting death

A Camden man pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated manslaughter in a 2009 shooting death that sparked a chaotic standoff in which a police officer's bullet pierced the exterior of a neighboring home and killed an occupant.

Jose Feliciano, 26, who had been firing a gun into the air on his property in the Baldwin's Run section of Camden, killed Ramon B. Roman when the 16-year-old went next door to intervene, according to authorities.

Feliciano entered his plea before Superior Court Judge Samuel Natal. He could receive more than 20 years at his sentencing March 18.

Feliciano was high from smoking PCP-laced marijuana or tobacco when he shot Roman at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 4, 2009, relatives said.

Roman ran out of the Feliciano's house and collapsed. The teenager, of the Cramer Hill section, and Feliciano were raised together like family, Roman's uncle said last year.

Feliciano took cover behind his house on the 3100 block of Pleasant Street and fired at an officer called to the scene, court documents said. Police returned fire and accidentally struck Juan Lopez, Roman's step-grandfather, inside the home next door. Lopez, 68, died a day later.

The Attorney General's Office has recommended that the police-shooting case go to a grand jury. The Camden County Prosecutor's Office is still reviewing the incident.

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