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They'd dealt with Merrill Rambarose, 49, before.
Once he was accused of trying to stab a woman at a 7-Eleven and another time he'd allegedly kept them at bay with a knife at the Margate garden apartment complex where the final confrontation occurred.
This time police were called by a woman who said they'd gotten into an argument over her smoking in the apartment and "he grabbed an ax and swung it," according to one of the first officers on the scene.
She fled the apartment and dialed 911 shortly after 3:45 p.m. April 12, 2022, authorities said.
Officers responding to the co-op complex just off Route 1 near the Menlo Park Mall cleared some children from in front of the building, then went around to the parking lot.
There they found Rambarose on a second-floor balcony.
Recognizing the officer whom he eventually charged at, Rambarose began cursing him out, three police bodycam videos show.
"Thank you," that officer replies, then says: "I know you're upset, but that's not helping us, man."
Another officer arrives and takes the lead in talking with Rambarose, imploring him to come down.
Rambarose, who’s seated at this point, threatens to cut them up.
"You won't do that, man,” the officer says. “Come on.”
"I'm at that point,” Rambarose tells him.
"Don't be at that point,” the officer replies. “Just come down and talk to me, man. I'm an easy-goin' guy, I'm tellin' ya’…Come down. We'll talk things out.”
"You are all scumbags," Rambarose replies.
He doesn't appear ready to move.
"She cannot smoke here," Rambarose says about the woman. "She comes here and I'll--"
"She's not here," the officer tells him. "I promise you. We told her to stay out front. So she's not here. You can come down and talk to us, all right?"
At that point, Rambarose suddenly gets up from his chair, mumbles something to himself and ducks inside the apartment.
The officer leading the negotiation directs his colleagues to back up and take cover. Meanwhile, he ducks behind a minivan.
The officer who was cursed out takes a position behind a tree.
It's only moments later that the front door to the apartment opens. An enraged, grimacing Merrill – ax in hand – runs straight at the officer behind the tree.
"Put it down. Put it down. Put it down, Merrill," the lead officer shouts.
The besieged officer retreats, his gun pointed at Rambarose.
He backs all the way from the lawn to the parking lot, still holding his fire, until Rambarose gets within only a few feet.
At that point, the officer and a colleague finally fire.
Rambarose tumbles forward, the ax falling from his hand.
An officer kicks it away.
“Officers and emergency medical personnel rendered first aid before Mr. Rambarose was transported to JFK University Medical Center in Edison,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said. “He was pronounced deceased at 4:41 p.m.”
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ALL of the police bodycam videos from the incident can be viewed here: Edison PD / Merrill Rambarose (NJAG)
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Both state law and his own guidelines require the attorney general’s office to investigate any and all deaths that occur “during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody."
This is done even when the situation is as clear-cut as in Edison.
The guidelines guarantee that the investigation is conducted “in a full, impartial and transparent manner," removing politics or personal agendas.
Once the investigation by the AG's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) was completed, the results were presented to the grand jury.
The panel reviewed a host of evidence that included witness interviews, photographs and the bodycam footage, as well as autopsy results from the medical examiner, Platkin said.
The grand jurors voted a no-bill on Sept. 25, finding Officer Daniel Bradley and Officer Joseph Elqumos were justified, the attorney general said.
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