Man Shot Dead With Cigarette Butts

W O O D B I N E, N.J., Feb. 13, 2001 -- A Woodbine man has been charged with aggravated manslaughter after a practical joke turned deadly, police said.

Anthony Saduk Jr., 29, and his roommate, Wesley Geisinger, 31, were hosting a party at their Freemont Avenue home early Sunday when Saduk loaded a muzzleloader rifle with cigarette butts and paper towel wadding, police said.

Saduk aimed and fired the rifle at Geisinger, who was standing nearby, and he was hit in the chest, police said. Geisinger, a divorced father of two young daughters, collapsed and was later pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy performed Monday by Cape May County Medical Examiner Elliot M. Gross determined that three cigarette butts penetrated Geisinger's rib cage directly above his heart, causing his death.

Saduk also was charged two counts of aggravated assault in connection with another incident at the party, police said.

He's accused of loading a .44-caliber muzzleloader pistol with gunpowder and shooting at Geisinger and Joseph Johnson, 32, of Prospect Park, Pa. The black powder left only superficial marks on both men.

The weapons used in both shootings have been confiscated by police.