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A loaded 9mm handgun was found near the body of Malik Canty after he was taken out by members of the U.S. Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force in a second-floor Hamilton Avenue apartment, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said.
Canty, a 36-year-old Bloods gang member, was wanted by the NYPD for the brutal beating death of his sometimes-girlfriend on a Harlem street.
Canty wasn’t in the front room when task force Marshals Service task force members who were searching for him were allowed into the apartment around 6:30 a.m. July 2020, Platkin said.
They gathered everyone -- including several children -- into the front room, then heard and spotted Canty in a rear bedroom, the attorney general said.
The officers asked Canty to walk toward them, but he closed the bedroom door, Platkin said.
When another task force member opened the door, Canty pointed a 9mm handgun at them and fired a round, he said.
Deportation Officer Sean Clayton returned fire, stopping the threat, the attorney general said.
Canty was later pronounced dead at the scene. No responders were injured.
Canty was wanted on a murder warrant for the death of Renee Campbell, 31, who was beaten into a coma on West 127th St. near Lenox Avenue in October 2019, four months after he'd been released from state prison following a three-year stretch for a weapons conviction.
Surveillance video showed Campbell, who worked as in customer service rep at the Whole Foods in Manhattan’s Union Square, being punched repeatedly in the face by Canty, the NYPD said at the time.
She remained on life support before dying eight later, leaving behind a 4-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son – both of whom loved ones said she had with Canty.
Canty fled, leading to a search for him that ended in Paterson.
“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,” Platkin noted.
However, state law and his own guidelines require Platkin's 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," no matter what the circumstances are.
The guidelines guarantee that the investigation is done “in a full, impartial and transparent manner," removing politics or personal agendas.
Once the attorney general's Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) completed its investigation into the Paterson shooting, the results were presented to the grand jury.
The panel reviewed a host of evidence -- including witness interviews, video footage, forensic evidence and autopsy results – before return a “no bill,” Platkin said.
That means “a majority of grand jurors found that the actions of the officer who shot Mr. Canty should not result in charges against him,” the attorney general said.
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