New Jersey woman fatally shot by police during ‘mental health crisis,’ attorney general says

(NEW YORK) — Police in Fort Lee, New Jersey, fatally shot a woman who was experiencing a mental health crisis on Sunday, the state attorney general’s office said.

The woman has not been publicly identified. The incident is now under investigation.

Fort Lee Police Department officers responded to a home at about 1:25 a.m. Sunday after a man called 911, saying his sister was having a mental health crisis and needed to go to the hospital, according to the attorney general’s office. The man said she was holding a knife, the attorney general’s office said.

In the hallway outside the apartment, the man who called 911 spoke to a responding police officer, at which point the officer opened the door to the unit and saw two women inside, according to the attorney general’s office.

The two women, one of whom was believed to be the 911 caller’s sister, “told the officer not to come in and shut the door,” the attorney general’s office said.

The officer knocked on the door, asking the women to open it, but they allegedly did not comply, the office said. More officers then arrived and breached the door.

The sister then “approached the officers in the hallway,” at which point one officer “fired a single shot, striking the female in the chest,” the attorney general’s office said.

It is unclear if the woman was holding a knife at the time she approached the officers, the attorney general’s office said.

Officers then began rendering medical aid to the woman, who was then transported to the hospital, officials said.

She was pronounced dead at the hospital at 1:58 a.m.

The attorney general’s office said a knife was recovered at the scene.

All deaths that take place during law enforcement encounters are required to be investigated by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.

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