Lamar Ortiz, 20, Named as Autumn Ridge Shooting Victim

Posted at 3:35 p.m. July 16. Additional reporting by Bill Duhart.

A Gloucester Township man was shot and killed in his apartment parking lot Monday night, the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office confirms, and the shooter is not yet in custody.

Lamar Ortiz, 20, died after he was shot multiple times in the Autumn Ridge Apartments parking lot just before 9:30 p.m. Ortiz, who lived in the complex, was pronounced dead an hour later at Kennedy University Hospital in Stratford.

Another man, an unidentified 18-year-old from Marlton, was grazed by a bullet in the shooting. He suffered minor injuries.

Ortiz's friends and former teachers have been tweeting their shock, grief and outrage using the hashtag #riplamar since the news broke. Many tweets describe Ortiz as a kind, fun man who served in the military. 

"The last words I said to Lamar Ortiz (as he walked out of my classroom in fatigues) were 'I'm proud of you.' I hope he heard me," one Twitter user posted.

Even without the killer in police custody, Precious Jay, a Camden County College student who lives at the Autumn Ridge Apartments, said Tuesday she did not have concerns about safety at the complex on Little Gloucester Road.

"This is the first time something like this has happened," she said while waiting for a bus Tuesday afternoon outside of the complex. "I heard about the shooting last night, but didn't know what happened. We were coming back from dinner and when we drove up we couldn't get back in."

Jay said she and a friend walked to their apartment building while observing a heavy police presence and a helicopter overhead. 

Anyone with information on the shooter or the incident is asked to contact Camden County Prosecutor’s Office Investigator Janene Bahr at 609-743-1703 or jbahr@ccprosecutor.org, or Gloucester Township Police Detective Brian Farrell at 856-228-4500.

To send an Anonymous Tip via Text Message to Gloucester Township Police, text the keyword GLOTWP and your tip message to 847411 (tip411). Tips also may be left anonymously online. 

Information may also be emailed to ccpotips@ccprosecutor.org.