VENTNOR MAN TO REMAIN IN CUSTODY AFTER KNIFE ATTACK ON CONTRACTOR

Ventnor City, New Jersey — A Ventnor man accused of ambushing a contractor inside an apartment building last month has been ordered held without release, as court officials reviewed his violent history and current charges.
Johnny Flores, 35, is accused of attacking a 59-year-old man who had been working inside a South Nashville Avenue apartment on July 15. According to investigators, Flores approached the man without warning and stabbed him multiple times, including in the neck, before placing his hands around the victim’s throat and continuing the assault. The two had never met before the incident, authorities confirmed. Flores allegedly made statements suggesting a personal motive during the attack, but no connection has been identified between them.
Flores appeared for his detention hearing by video from a state forensic psychiatric center in Trenton. His current commitment stems from a 2016 case in Vineland, where he was charged with stabbing a police officer. That case concluded in a not guilty by reason of insanity ruling in 2018, resulting in probation rather than hospitalization. Defense attorneys argued that Flores is already confined and poses no risk of fleeing. The judge rejected that position, citing the nature of the recent attack and Flores’ documented history of violence.
His next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 10. The contractor has since been released from the hospital. Family members of the victim said the assault caused lasting trauma and questioned why Flores had not been institutionalized years earlier.