Bail set at $2 million in Piscataway slaying

A man who completed a prison sentence for weapons possession less than a year ago was back in custody yesterday, charged with shooting and killing a man outside a Piscataway bowling alley.

Tywan Cobb, 30, stood silently yesterday, handcuffs on his wrists, when he appeared before Superior Court Judge James Mullvihill in New Brunswick for arraignment on charges of murder, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose.

Mullvihill set bail at $2 million.

Cobb is accused of killing Quadeer Hall, 26, of Rahway, who was shot multiple times with a handgun early Sunday outside the Stelton Lane bowling alley, on Stelton Road in Piscataway, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said in a statement yesterday.

After Hall was shot, bystanders carried him into the bowling alley for first aid, Kaplan said.

Police responded after receiving a 911 call at 12:15 a.m., and officers arrested Cobb moments later, Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Nicholas Sewitch said.

"It's alleged he fled the scene. He was arrested about 100 yards from the scene within 10 minutes after police arrived," Sewitch said.

Sewitch declined to say what preceded the shooting, saying police are still investigating the case. He said Cobb and Hall were acquaintances.

"They were not strangers. They knew each other," Sewitch said.

Hall was rushed to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where he was pronounced dead at 1:30 a.m., Kaplan said.

Assistant Public Defender Vernon Estreicher, who represented Cobb in court, said his client is pleading not guilty.

Cobb was sentenced to state prison in April 2005 for weapons charges, according to records from the state Department of Corrections. He was released on parole in April 2008, but was arrested again on a warrant that June and was placed in a halfway house until completing the sentence on Dec. 24, 2008, according to the records. Cobb is being held at the Middlesex County jail in North Brunswick.

Authorities ask anybody with information about the shooting to contact Piscataway Police Detective Shawn Rapach at (732) 562-1100, or Investigator Scott Crocco of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office at (732) 745-4471.

Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@starledger.com or (732) 293-4928.