The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office is investigating after a woman was shot and killed by police officers in an incident that happened at an apartment complex in Fort Lee, early Sunday.
The incident happened as police responded to a call from a man who said "his sister was having a mental health crisis and needed to go to the hospital," officials said, at The Pinnacle apartment complex on Main Street in Fort Lee at about 1:25 a.m. on Sunday, July 28, 2024.
The caller, officials said, told police his sister had a knife.
At that time, officials said, a responding officer talked to the man who called police in the hallway outside of the apartment unit, and the officer saw two women inside the apartment.
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The females told the officer not to come in and they shut the door, police officials said.
The officer then stood outside the door and knocked, telling the women to open the door as additional officers arrived at the scene.
When the women did not comply, the officers breached the door and, police officials said, when the sister in the apartment approached the officers in the hallway, one of the officers fired a single shot.
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That gunshot, police officials said, struck the sister in the chest.
The woman was taken to a nearby hospital after the incident where she was pronounced at about 1:58 a.m., officials said.
Officers recovered a knife at the scene of the shooting, according to police.
However, as of about 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, police have not provided further identifying information on the woman who was killed.
Nor did police detail if the woman was armed with the knife when she was killed.
An investigation into the shooting is ongoing, officials said.
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