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Uniformed officers responding to a 911 call just before midnight Wednesday were confronted by the armed suspect at the BP gas station at one of the city's most familiar intersections -- Communipaw and West Side avenues.
"During the encounter, one Jersey City officer fired his service weapon, fatally wounding the man," Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said several hours later.
"A firearm was recovered near the decedent," said Platkin, whose office is required by state law to investigate all fatal police shootings in New Jersey no matter what the circumstances are.
Officers were pursuing the suspect after a female domestic violence victim was taken to Jersey City Medical Center in critical condition following a shooting, law enforcement sources said.
The as-yet unidentified man had turned and fired first before one of the officers dropped him, they said. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:19 a.m., exactly 23 minutes from the time of the call, said Platkin.
Both the officer who fired and a fellow officer were brought to the medical center for observation, colleagues said Wednesday.
State law and Platkin's own guidelines require his staff to investigate all deaths in New Jersey that occur “during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody."
The guidelines guarantee that the investigation by the attorney general's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) is done “in a full, impartial and transparent manner," removing politics or personal agendas.
Once the investigation is complete, the results are presented to a grand jury.
The grand jury reviews a host of evidence -- including witness interviews, body and dashcam video, and forensic and autopsy results -- to determine whether or not there was cause to suspect any wrongdoing on the part of law enforcement.
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