🚨Douglas Cobb has been identified as the suspect in Friday’s fatal Wawa shooting
🚨Cobb faces a murder charge and remains a fugitive, prosecutors say.
🚨 Investigators have not disclosed what led to the Route 37 shooting.
TOMS RIVER — The suspect in the fatal shooting at a Toms River Wawa Friday morning has been identified, and he remains a fugitive from justice.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said Douglas Cobb, 51, of Toms River, fired at a man in the head at the Wawa store on Route 37 westbound at Garfield Avenue around 7:20 a.m. Cobb is also known as Douglas Green and goes by the nickname “Bootknock.”
Cobb is charged with murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon and being a certain person not to possess a weapon.
Pickup truck that was fired on at the Wawa on Route 37 at Garfield Avenue in Toms River Friday., Sept 18, 2026 (Tri-County Scanner News)Toms River shooting victim identified
The victim was identified as Bruce Gress, 42, of Toms River. He was taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where he died.
Cobb was last seen driving a black 2016 Acura MDX with New Jersey license plate T93YJL.
“We ask anyone that knows Cobb to advise him to turn himself in peacefully. If anyone has credible information concerning the whereabouts of Cobb, please contact the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crime Unit at 732-929-2027, or the Toms River Township Police Department at 732-349-0150,” Billhimer said.
What witnesses reported about the shooting
The Lakewood Scoop was first to report on the shooting and said the other man left the parking lot in a blue Acura sedan.
The shots were fired from the sedan, according to Jersey Shore Online.
News 12’s Jim Murdoch reported that the victim was sitting inside a truck when he was shot.
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