Mercer Times

The Attorney General’s Office is investigating a death that occurred during a police encounter in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, on Friday, June 14, 2024.

According to the preliminary investigation, officers from the Woodbridge Police Department conducted a motor vehicle stop at a gas station on Route 9 North at approximately 6:33 p.m. Officers learned that the male driver and lone occupant of the civilian van had an active National Crime Information Center (NCIC) warrant for an active criminal investigation in Nassau County, New York.

When officers asked the individual to exit the van, he refused and instead moved to the van’s rear compartment, behind a curtain and out of the officers’ view. The officers broke the van’s windows and used OC spray to try to get the male to exit. Less than 15 minutes later, officers on scene reported hearing a loud noise that sounded like a firework. Woodbridge Police Department’s Tactical Team, officers from the Perth Amboy Police Department, and EMS responded to the scene. The individual was later found within the van, dead from an apparent gunshot wound, at approximately 8:30 p.m. A non-police-issued shotgun was recovered from inside the van. Preliminary information indicates that no law enforcement officers fired their weapons.

A 2019 law, N.J.S.A. 52:17B-107(a)(2), requires the Attorney General’s Office to conduct investigations of a person’s death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody. The investigation into the circumstances of this death is ongoing and no further information is being released at this time.