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James Sutton, 55, of Keansburg, was holding up the Keansburg Pharmacy in Keansburg Plaza on Main Street when officers responding to multiple 911 calls arrived shortly before 3:30 p.m. last Thursday, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said.
Sutton "was holding a large knife and threatening to harm an employee of the pharmacy" and then stabbed an officer before two detectives and another officer opened fire, Bruck said.
Sutton was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.
The stabbed male officer was taken to Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel and was recovering, the attorney general said.
Sutton had a criminal history stretching back nearly 35 years, with arrests for burglary, aggravated assault and forgery, among other offenses, records show.
Despite the circumstances, both state law and his own guidelines require Bruck 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."
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