51°
Charles Tsakiris, 38, opened the door of his Walnut Street home in Farmingdale with the knife in his right hand at 10:45 p.m. Oct. 18, police bodycam footage shows.
Farmingdale doesn’t have its own police force, so a Howell Township police officer responded to a 911 call of a "person claiming to be dying after being stabbed by his brother," according to police records.
Tsakiris was clad only in briefs as he opened his door and his dog ran out ahead of him.
The officer “backed away as Mr. Tsakiris advanced on him with the knife,” state Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said Tuesday.
"Back up! Back up! Back up!" the officer is heard shouting on bodycam footage.
Tsakiris is then heard cursing at the officer while advancing down the front stoop.
The officer retreats while repeatedly ordering Tsakiris to back up, the video shows.
"Why are cops here? Cause I killed somebody?” Tsakiris is heard saying.
“Gunpoint!” the officer shouts into his radio as Tsakiris keeps coming.
“Back up!” the officer repeatedly shouts.
"Just kill me," Tsakiris responds while continuing to advance. "Just kill me."
Five gunshots are heard.
"OK, I'm sorry,” Tsakiris says. “I'm sorry. OK."
Bruck said that the officer “gave repeated verbal commands" to Tsakiris to back up,” then shot him when he “did not comply with the commands and continued to advance.”
Police and medical personal rendered aid before Tsakiris – a U.S. Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War -- was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:02 p.m.
Teresa Oshel, 40, who also lived there, was found stabbed dead in a bathroom, authorities said.
A third resident, Jeffrey Tsakiris, 36, was treated at a local hospital for stab wounds and later released, they said.
Records show the late resident had a history of assaults at the home.
Howell Police Chief Andrew Kudrick praised the officer's response, saying the action was was "necessary and immediate” in ending a "deadly threat."
"(He) was forced to defend himself along with several other parties who were present," the chief noted.
Despite the videotaped evidence, New Jersey law and Bruck’s own guidelines require his office 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 – which determines whether or not criminal charges are in order.
Grand jurors found the Farmingdale shooting justified – returning a “no bill” -- following an investigation by the attorney general’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA), Bruck said.
The investigation included “interviews of witnesses, collection of forensic evidence, review of body worn camera footage, and autopsy results from the medical examiner,” he said.
“An officer may use deadly force in New Jersey when the officer reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to protect the officer or another person from imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm,” the attorney general noted.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Middletown and receive free news updates.
