A 21-year-old Jersey City man who faced up to life in prison on a murder charge is now facing a five-year sentence following his plea to a lesser charge today, officials said.

Ahmed Hassan Dar of Chopin Court was charged with the Oct. 6, 2013 murder of Roman Kaploun on Wayne Street but he pleaded guilty today to reckless manslaughter before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Bernadette DeCastro, defense attorney Jeff Garrigan said.

"I think it is the right resolution for this particular matter," Garrigan said. "The defendant had a viable self-defense claim but without a crystal ball and knowing what the jury is going to do, he decided to accept the reduced plea offer."

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By Michaelangelo Conte | The Jersey Journal

The murder trial of a 19-year-old city man charged with gunning down a Jersey City man in Downtown Jersey City in 2013 is expected to begin Tuesday.

Ahmed Hassan Dar of Chopin Court is charged with murder and weapons offenses in the fatal shooting of Roman Kaploun, 24, of Jersey City, officials said. The charge of murder carries a penalty of 30 years to life in prison upon conviction.

Early on Oct. 6, 2013 police received a report of shots being fired on Wayne Street and responded to the area, but friends of the victim had already driven Kaploun to the Jersey City Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Authorities have never provided a motive in the fatal shooting.

At a hearing in February, Dar turned down a plea offer in which he would face up to 20 years in prison in exchange for pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter, court officials said.

A witness told The Jersey Journal in 2013 that he saw a man who had been shot multiple times being loaded into a car and rushed away.

"I heard the shots and I ran upstairs, and I was at the bay window, and there was a group of guys across the street and the (victim) was right in front of my house," the man said at the time.

"I saw his friends stand him up, and he was still able to walk. I guess it was all the adrenaline," said the Wayne Street resident. "One person just threw (Kaploun) in the car."

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His parents and the taxpayers probably invested upwards of a quarter of a million dollars in raising and trying to educate this man. What a failure and waste.

What a charming young man. Was he bullied as a child?

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More on Ahmed:
http://www.northjersey.com/news/14900 ... ary_suspect_arrested.html

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/12/0 ... 20-year-old-nutley-woman/

A Jersey City teen has been arrested and charged in the shooting death of a 24-year-old city man killed on Wayne Street just after midnight yesterday.

Ahmed Hassan Dar, 19, of Chopin Court, is charged with murder and weapons offenses in connection to the fatal shooting of Roman Kaploun, 24, of Jersey City, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Gene Rubino announced tonight.

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The "shootings" vs. "homicides" would be interesting. I agree the stats would be much worse if the shooters were better shots. I know there was a flurry of shooting on Montgomery during the summer (mosque), but very few (if any) resulted in a death. SpotCrime maps crimes; but I have a feeling their stats were under-reporting incidents for a while (don't remember seeing the Montgomery shootings listed there as they were happening).

A Jersey City man has been identified as the victim of a fatal early morning shooting today on Wayne Street in Jersey City, Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Gene Rubino said.

Roman Kaploun, 24, of Jersey City, was shot multiple times around 12:15 a.m. on Wayne Street near Chopin Court, Rubino said.

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Not sure if I should be proud but I'm glad JC has low shooters. I think our homicide rate would be way higher is the criminals didn't have bad aims.

That's a good idea, Pebble. I'll discuss it with the editors.

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It would be great if they could put together a list of all shootings, not just those where someone died.

The JJ map of homicides in JC is worth linking:

JC 2013 Homicide map

Anthony J. Machcinski/The Jersey Journal

The Hudson County Prosecutor's Office has confirmed that a man was shot and killed in Jersey City early this morning.

The man, who has not yet been identified, was killed at the intersection of Wayne Street and Chopin Court in Jersey City early this morning, Hudson County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Gene Rubino said.

Additional information on the murder was not immediately available, Rubino said.

The murder is the 20th in Hudson County in 2013 and the 18th in Jersey City.

The murder comes three days after a 24-year-old Jersey City man was shot and killed on Bartholdi Avenue on Sunday.

Anyone with information regarding the homicide is asked to call the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Homicide Unit at (201) 915-1345. All calls will be kept confidential, Rubino said.