FREEHOLD — The man accused of fatally shooting a woman as she exited a Route 33 late Thursday was formally charged with first degree murder in his first court appearance on Saturday.

Kader Mustafa, 34, has a detention hearing on Wednesday for the fatal shooting of Sciasia Calhoun, 24, of Freehold Township. Calhoun was shot she turned off the Route 33 bypass onto Halls Mills Road just before midnight on Thursday night. Prosecutors said he fired at her car from another vehicle.

The woman, who was in the car with her boyfriend and one-year-old child died later at CentraState Medical Center in Freehold. The man and the child were not injured.

During his court appearance on Saturday Mustafa requested a public defender. The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office filed a motion to keep Mustafa behind bars without an opportunity for release pending trial.

Many questions remain about the shooting including a motive and whether or not Mustafa knew Calhoun or her boyfriend

Investigators are awaiting the results of ballistics tests to determine connections between Mustafa and shootings of vehicles on April 27 in Neptune and April 28 in Holmdel.  No one was hurt in the Neptune and Holmdel incidents, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

There is no connection between this shooting and the fatal shooting of Lloyd Earl Sanders, 54, who had been driving on Route 18 early last Sunday morning, according to Monmouth County First Assistant Prosecutor Lori Linksey. There have no arrests in the Sanders case.

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