$2M bail set for Camden man accused of firing at cop

A Camden man sought in a shooting was hiding between two cars last week when he shot at a police officer who had been following his vehicle, prosecutors said during the suspect's arraignment Monday.

The bullets from the 9mm handgun carried by Victor Bennett struck the windows of a police vehicle driven by Camden County Officer Prince Reed, prosecutors said. A bullet fragment also hit Reed's arm.

In Superior Court in Camden on Monday, Reed sat toward the front with more than 20 Camden County police officers. Bennett, who came out with his hands shackled and in a blue jumpsuit, occasionally turned to glance at the officers. His only word was "Yeah," when Judge Edward J. McBride asked if he planned to have a public defender.

Bennett has been charged with attempted murder and unlawful possession of a weapon in the attack on the officer, and McBride ordered bail be set at $2 million.

Prosecutors said Bennett, 21, of Camden, also was responsible for a shooting along Eutaw Avenue the night before he shot at Reed. In that incident, a man was shot around 10:30 p.m. Police said the man remained in serious condition Monday.

Dan Keashen, a Camden County spokesman, said Reed was following Bennett's car Wednesday because police had received a tip that Bennett was connected to the Eutaw shooting.

Prosecutors said Reed picked up the car in the Whitman Park section. The car then stopped in Parkside along Kenwood Avenue, where three people got out, police said.

Bennett then ducked between his car and another, authorities said. He opened fire with the same gun used the night before as Reed drove by, prosecutors said. He then ran off.

Bennett was captured Friday after authorities chased him from an apartment in the 200 block of Haddon Avenue in Collingswood. Bennett jumped over fences and ran through backyards until he was found in a shed in the 100 block of Wayne Street, police said. Bennett had the 9mm handgun at the time, police said.

Reed, who appeared at Monday's hearing in a Camden County police polo and shook hands with officers afterward, declined to comment. He was hired in March 2013.

Police Chief Scott Thomson, in a statement after the arrest, called Bennett an armed predator and a sociopath.

Bennett has a lengthy rap sheet, prosecutors said, including charges of sexual assault on a teenager in Monmouth County last year. In 2011, he was convicted of unlawful possession of a weapon. He spent three years in prison before being released in 2014.