Family says teen mom shot and left for dead on NJ road on Christmas Eve

🔴 Christmas Eve shooting in Denville: An 18-year-old woman was found shot and wounded on a roadside in Morris County

🔴 Georgia man charged: Police arrested Jovan Young, recovering a handgun and ammunition in nearby Boonton

🔴 Family seeks help: The victim, a young mother, is identified by relatives through a GoFundMe campaign

DENVILLE — A Georgia man was facing multiple criminal charges after an 18-year-old woman was found shot and seriously wounded, curled up along a road in Denville on Christmas Eve.

Around 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 24, the victim was found at the usually quiet intersection of Old Boonton Road and Pocono Road, shot in the stomach and laying in the fetal position, police said.

Investigation links victim to Georgia man with New Jersey ties

Investigators found that 37-year-old Jovan Young had been with the victim, now identified as India Heath, earlier in the day.

Both Young and Heath are residents of Georgia, but have ties to New Jersey, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll said.

Gun, ammunition recovered in Boonton arrest

On Dec. 25, police found Young in Boonton, where they also recovered a 9mm handgun and multiple magazines loaded with hollow point cartridges.

Young has been charged with third-degree endangering an injured person, second-degree counts of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon and fourth-degree counts of possession of hollow point cartridges and certain persons not to have weapons or ammunition.

He was taken to Morris County Jail, pending future court hearings.

Read More: NJ actor faces fresh charges in Stockton road rage shooting case

Family identifies victim, launches GoFundMe for young mother

Family members have shared the 18-year-old victim’s story through a GoFundMe campaign.

“On Christmas Eve, our family’s world was turned upside down when my 18-year-old cousin, India Heath, was shot and left for dead on the side of the road in New Jersey. By the grace of God and the compassion of a stranger—an angel we may never know—India was found in time and rushed to the hospital,” according to the campaign coordinated by Jocelyn Heath to raise donations for medical expenses.

Heath has a seven-month-old baby back in Georgia, the GoFundMe also said.

The incident remained under investigation and additional charges were possible, Carroll added.

Anyone with potential information was encouraged to call the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit at 973-285-6200.

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