The 36-year-old resident was outside his Post Avenue home -- a block and a half off Ridge Road -- when the officer encountered him while responding to a 911 call of a domestic disturbance around 8 a.m., responders said.
The resident, who records show had no criminal history, fired a round at the officer before apparently shooting himself, they said. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital a short time later.
Daily Voice was temporarily withholding his name while notifications were made.
The officer apparently wasn't injured.
Detectives from the New Jersey Attorney General's Office and State Police responded and took charge of the investigation.
Despite any obvious circumstances, state law and his own guidelines require Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew Bruck to investigate 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.
Bruck was expected to release a statement about the Lyndhurst incident sometime Sunday.
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