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Joshua Mathis 19, confronted Hillsborough police who responded to a report of a man with a gun at an apartment on Corporal Langon Way shortly after 6 p.m. Sunday, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said.
Mathis "was holding a large knife" and "advanced toward the officers with the knife" in the apartment, Bruck said.
An officer fired his service weapon, stopping Mathis, he said.
Police and EMS workers rendered first aid before Mathis was pronounced dead at the scene at 6:51 p.m., Bruck said
No one else was injured, he said.
Both state law and his own guidelines require the attorney general 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."
The guidelines guarantee that the investigation is done “in a full, impartial and transparent manner."
Once the investigation is complete, the results are presented to a grand jury -- ordinarily consisting of 16 to 23 citizens -- that determines whether or not there's cause to suspect any wrongdoing on the part of law enforcement.
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