Suspect In ShopRite Stabbing Pleads Not Guilty In Superior Court

The man accused of stabbing 37-year-old Noah Jackson in front of horrified customers and staff at the pleaded not guilty in Ocean County Superior Court this afternoon.

Christopher Page, 34, made the plea before Superior Court Judge Ronald E. Hoffman at 1:30 p.m. today, said Eric Muniz, criminal courts division manager.

He remains lodged in the Ocean County Jail in Toms River on $500,000 bail, with no 10 percent option.

Page is charged with stabbing Jackson three times in the front of the store with a 4-inch folding knife. Jackson — a store employee — received three severe wounds in the attack and was airlifted to Jersey Shore University Medical Center.

Page is charged with attempted murder, possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, Berkeley Township Police Chief Karin T. DiMichele has said.

An altercation between the two men began in the store vestibule and continued into the front of the store near the checkout registers 1 and 3, counters, where Jackson was stabbed severely, DiMichele has said.

He was airlifted to Jersey Shore University Medical Center after the incident, DiMichele said.

The two men knew each other. Police are still investigating the cause of the dispute, DiMichele said.

Page fled the scene in a gold 2002 Infiniti. He was apprehended the following morning near the Toms River and South Toms River border and was taken into custody without incident, police have said.

The popular store on Route 9 in Bayville was closed for almost five hours after the attack, so police could process the scene and question witnesses.