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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A local man wanted by authorities was carrying a knife when he was shot and killed after assaulting two officers who followed him into the Lyndhurst Library this afternoon, law enforcement authorities told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
No one else was injured.
“All of the officers are OK,” Police Chief James O’Connor told CLIFFVIEW PILOT less than a half-hour after the shooting, which occurred on the library’s third floor around 1:30 p.m.
Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli later confirmed a CLIFFVIEW PILOT report that the suspect — identified as 36-year-old Kevin Allen — was pronounced dead after being taken to an area hospital.
The two officers were also taken to Hackensack University Medical Center be treated for shock.
Allen’s criminal record includes an arrest for criminal sexual contact eight years ago and a previous drug conviction out of Passaic County.
He spent nearly two weeks in the Bergen County Jail on a disorderly persons conviction and failing to pay fines before fleeing a work release program in early April, records show. A judge then issued a contempt of court warrant for his arrest.
Officers this afternoon spotted Allen walking into the library next to the police station on Valley Brook Avenue and followed him inside, O’Connor said.
Molinelli’s detectives interviewed witnesses, including a child, and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification collected evidence.
The area surrounding the 300 block of Valley Brook Avenue was closed to all pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
CLIFFVIEW PILOT photos: Maria D.L. Angeles
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