18-year-old charged with firing shots at 3 Hillsborough, NJ homes

🚨 Two homes were shot at during one night and one on another night

🚨 All the homes were occupied at the time of their respective shootings

🚨 The prosecutor did not disclose a motive or if the homes were targeted

HILLSBOROUGH – An 18-year-old was charged with firing shots at three homes in the township on two different nights.

Ryan Vandermeer, of Hillsborough, fired at the rear sliding glass door of a Robin Road and at a second-floor window of a home of Brookside Lane less than a mile away later between 10:15 and 10:45 p.m. on Sept. 3, Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald said.

Both homes were struck with a "low caliber bullet," according to McDonald.

Vandermeer then fired at the rear sliding glass door of a third house on Gateway Boulevard on the evening of Sept. 5 with a medium caliber bullet, officials said.

All three residences were occupied at the time but no injuries were reported.

Closing in on a suspect

An investigation by Hillsborough police and the Prosecutor's Office made Vandermeer the suspect. Police found “numerous firearms and ammunition” at his home on Tuesday during the execution of a search warrant at his home of his home before he was arrested Tuesday.

McDonald did not disclose a motive for the shootings, if there was a connection or if the homes were targeted.

Vandermeer was charged with three counts of first-degree attempted murder, two counts of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, two counts of second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun and three counts of third-degree endangering another person. He is being held at the Somerset County Jail pending a detention heading.

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