EDWARDSVILLE — A traffic stop for vehicle code violation resulted in the apprehension of a man wanted for his alleged role in a June 2024 drive-by shooting.
Najie Jerome Barkley, 34, address known as South Main Street, Wilkes-Barre, was a passenger in a vehicle stopped on Main Street for an inoperable tail light just after 9 p.m., according to court records filed by Edwardsville police.
Barkley gave a false name as his true identity and was revealed through an electronic scan of his fingerprints, court records say.
Once Barkley’s identification became known, court records allege, police learned he was wanted for his alleged role in a shooting in the area of Meyers and East Grove streets, Edwardsville, on June 2, 2024.
Court records say Barkley and Shawn Richard Shannon, 42, of Pearl Street, Wilkes-Barre, fired shots at each other in retaliation for a fight in the Hilltop Apartment Complex.
No one was injured in the shooting but an occupied house was struck by a bullet.
Barkley was arraigned Friday by District Judge Joseph Spagnuolo of Plains Township on five counts each of reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct, and one count each of aggravated assault, simple assault, firearms not to be carried without a license and illegal possession of a firearm. Barkley was also charged with false identification to law enforcement.
Barkley was jailed at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility for lack of $201,000 total bail on the two criminal complaints.
Shannon on Aug. 7 was sentenced by Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough to two years, six months to five years in state prison on charges of discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure and disorderly conduct.
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