Township officers had responded to a 911 emergency call at the Piedmont Path residence shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said.
An officer discharged his service weapon during an encounter at the home, Bruck said.
The resident, who wasn't immediately identified, was mortally wounded, he said.
Officers and emergency medical personnel rendered first aid to the resident before he was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, the attorney general said.
He was pronounced dead at the hospital at 5:28 p.m., Bruck said.
State law and his own office's guidelines require the attorney general 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," he said.
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 criminal charges are in order.
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