Two charged in Mount Laurel shooting

Two young men were charged Sunday in a shooting that occurred Saturday night in Mount Laurel, police said.

Kurtis M. Cercone, 18, of Mount Laurel, and an unidentified 17-year-old from Trenton were charged, Mount Laurel police said in a statement.

Police said they arrived around 11:15 p.m. at a home on the 3300 block of Marne Highway, where they found a 17-year-old resident shot once in the chest. He was taken to Cooper University Hospital, where the wound was listed as non-life-threatening, police said.

The victim initially said he had been sitting on his porch when he was shot by someone in a mask, who then ran off.

Officers searching the area found Cercone and the 17-year-old from Trenton, both on foot, and learned that they had been with the shooting victim in his home.

The two were handling the handgun that they had brought to the home when it discharged, said police, who did not indicate who was holding the weapon. Cercone and the 17-year-old Trentonian then ran, taking the gun with them, police said.

In a nearby parking lot, police found two handguns in Cercone's vehicle. He was charged with possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a firearm, police said. Cercone was sent to county jail on $50,000 bail.

The 17-year-old was charged with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a firearm, Mount Laurel police said, and he was sent to the county's juvenile detention center.