Man shoots himself at Toms River Wawa, wife rescued

A man shot himself in the parking lot of an Ocean County Wawa store on Sunday night, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

The wife of a man she described as "despondent" called police just before 11 p.m. from their car parked at the Wawa on Route 37 at Northampton Avenue on the Manchester Township border, the prosecutor's office said.

She said her husband, whom authorities have only described as 30-year-old man from Seaside Heights, was threatening suicide and holding a long-barrel weapon, according to the prosecutor's office.

Toms River Police responded and began talking to the man, successfully getting the wife out of the car, the prosecutor's office said. Negotiations continued for several hours to convince the man to surrender, i said.

Around 2:15 a.m. the man fired the weapon at himself, the prosecutor's office said. The man was taken to Community Medical Center and then to Jersey Shore Medical Center where he remained in critical condition Monday morning.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the incident.