Man Shot By SWAT Team During Attempt To Arrest Girlfriend, AG Says

MANCHESTER, NJ -- (Updated, 11 p.m.) The N.J. Attorney General’s office has identified the man shot and killed during a confrontation with police in Manchester early Saturday morning.

Michael Laniado, 27, was shot and killed shortly before 4 a.m. after he threatened officers with a karambit, a large knife with a curved blade, as they attempted to arrest him at the Pine Acres Manor mobile home park, according to a statement from the Attorney General’s office.

The statement said Manchester Township police officers went to the mobile home park on Route 37 to execute an arrest warrant for Laniado’s girlfriend, Shyna Palmieri, 25, at about midnight.

According to the preliminary investigation by the Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team, when the officers tried to arrest Palmieri, the couple barricaded themselves inside the mobile home. Then officers heard loud sounds of objects being thrown and smashed, as well as screaming, the statement said.

Laniado and Palmieri began throwing large objects, including small appliances and a spear, out of the home at the officers, who retreated and called in the Ocean County Regional SWAT Team. Once the SWAT team arrived, a hostage negotiator attempted to convince the couple to surrender peacefully, but was unsuccessful.

The statement said officers inserted a robot with a cell phone into the mobile home as part of the efforts to communicate, and they allegedly heard Laniado threatening to harm Palmieri.

Fearing for Palmieri’s safety, officers fired tear gas into the mobile home, the attorney general’s office said. That caused Laniado to leave the mobile home while allegedly holding Palmieri at knifepoint, and Laniado allegedly made statements that he was going to kill her, the statement said.

Laniado tossed the knife he was wielding over his shoulder, as if to surrender, the statement said. But when officers advanced to arrest him, he allegedly pulled another knife out of his clothing, the statement said.

Officers then fired several non-lethal dummy or bean bag rounds that hit Laniado but did not have any effect on him, it said. As Laniado continued to move toward the officers with the knife, at least one officer fired multiple rounds of lethal ammunition at Laniado, hitting him multiple times, the statement said.

Laniado was taken by EMS to Community Medical Center in Toms River, where he was pronounced dead. Palmieri was taken into custody, the statement said.

No officers were injured. Both knives were recovered at the scene. The second knife wielded by Laniado and recovered beside him after the shooting is a large karambit, a martial arts knife with a curved blade, the office said.

“The incident remains under investigation by the Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team. Under Attorney General Directives, the Shooting Response Team, made up of deputy attorneys general, detectives of the Division of Criminal Justice, and detectives of the State Police Major Crime Unit, are dispatched to the scene to handle investigations of shootings involving state troopers or officers employed by county prosecutors as detectives/investigators or members of county SWAT teams and task forces,” the statement said.

(Updated, 5 p.m.) An officer-involved shooting early Saturday morning killed a man, according to a report.

News 12 reported the man was shot about 3 a.m. after officers reported a home in Pine Acres Manor. The report says witnesses told the station that a man who had weapons allegedly barricaded himself inside a home.

Saturday afternoon, a Manchester Township police cruiser and an Ocean County Sheriff’s SUV blocked the entrance to Pine Acres Manor, a mobile home park on Route 37 on the border of Manchester and Toms River, where the investigation was continuing.

Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, said he did not have details on the matter but said it involved a member of the prosecutor’s office.

Della Fave said it’s been turned over to the state Attorney General’s Office for investigation.

Manchester Township Police Chief Lisa Parker offered this statement:

“During the early morning hours of February 6th, an officer involved shooting took place in the Pine Acres Manor Development of Manchester Township. As per established State protocols, the incident is being investigated by the NJ Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team. The Response Team, which is comprised of Investigators from the Division of Criminal Justice and New Jersey State Police is the lead investigating agency. All requests for information relating to the incident should be directed to the N.J. Attorney General’s Office.”

The Attorney’s General’s Office did not immediately respond to a message placed by Patch Saturday morning.