Toms River Man Tried to Shoot Woman in the Head, Cops Say

TOMS RIVER — A township man was charged with attempted murder after firing a handgun at a woman's head, police said.

Richard Dugo, 32, on Monday put the gun near her head and pulled the trigger but the shot missed, police said Thursday.

Police said Dugo knew the woman, who was visiting a neighbor. The shooting happened at the neighbor's house.

Dugo left the home and was later arrested, police said. Police declined to say whether others were in the home or what led up to the shooting.

He also was charged with aggravated assault and possession of a handgun.

Before the shooting, he was facing charges for a Dec. 23 incident in which police said he dragged a woman with his car after arguing with her.

He also has a long criminal record for violent and drug offenses.

Despite being arrested on charges of second-degree robbery in 2008, a Drug Court judge sentenced him in 2009 to six months of rehab and five years of probation based on a 2006 charge of possession of oxycodone. The robbery charge was dismissed after he pleaded guilty to theft, court records show.

A year later, however, he was sentenced to three years in prison.

In 2016, he was sentenced to two months in county jail and three years of probation for guilty please to forgery and theft charges dating back to 2012.

The state judiciary's public online database is incomplete because it does not include records of arrests that did not result in convictions in Superior Court.

Dugo was being held Thursday at the Ocean County Jail.