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INITIAL STORY: Terrified patients and staff barricaded themselves inside a pediatric office in Teaneck after an agitated man began smashing windows with a hammer, said police who captured him soon after.
Camwren T. Cole, 23, entered The Doctors Building on Palisades Avenue shortly after noon Sunday and began smashing windows, Police Chief Glenn M. O’Reilly said.
Officers responding to several 911 calls from the complex found frightened patients and medical staff barricaded in a doctor’s office, O’Reilly said.
They included a receptionist whose nose was cut by flying glass, he said.
Police had just arrived when another call came in from Cedar Lane, where Cole had smashed the front window of Parisian Cleaners, the chief said.
Bogota and Leonia joined township police at the scene, where Cole was seized without incident, he said.
Cole “showed indications indicative of mental illness” and was taken to Holy Name Medical Center for treatment before being transferred to Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus.
He remained there in custody pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court on charges of aggravated assault on a health care worker, harassment, weapons possession and three counts of criminal mischief.
O’Reilly thanked Bogota and Leonia police and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office for their assistance.
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