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Joshua Mathis actually made two of three 911 calls of a man with a gun that brought the Hillsborough officers to an apartment on Corporal Langon Way shortly after 6 p.m. Jan. 9, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.
A woman let them in, and they immediately found Mathis about 20 feet away holding a large knife in his right hand, the videos released by Platkin on Monday, Feb. 28 show.
"This is your space," says an officer who took the lead in talking with Mathis. "No one's coming any closer."
"I don't wanna listen to nobody. I'm ready," Mathis replies. "Take your gun and shoot me."
"Never. Never gonna happen," the officer tells him.
Mathis reaches into his waistband, alarming the officers, before pulling out a plastic gun and tossing it on the floor.
Things happened quickly after that.
"Give me two minutes, 120 seconds to talk to you," the officer says. "Gimme 120, Noah... "
Mathis charges at the officers with the knife as the officer shouts his name again.
Officer Christopher Mathis, who'd been next to the negotiating officer, deployed his Taser, then fired his service weapon, Platkin said.
Police and emergency medical personnel rendered first aid to Mathis, who was pronounced dead at the scene less than a half-hour later, he said.
Both state law and his own guidelines require Platkin's office 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," no matter what the circumstances are.
The goal is to "promote the fair, impartial, and transparent investigation of fatal police encounters."
Part of the process includes releasing audio and video from the incident to fulfill a public records request.
Platkin complied on Monday, releasing video footage from four police body cams, a Taser camera video, and recordings of the three 911 calls, as well as police radio communications.
THE RECORDINGS CAN BE FOUND HERE: Mathis-Hillsborough Recordings (NJ Attorney General)
Once the investigation is complete, the results will be 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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