Update: Crowbar Recovered in Officer's Encounter with Intruder

A crowbar reportedly used to break into a store and attack a police officer is now in possession of investigators, following an incident early Friday morning in the Pomona section of the township.

Officer Ronald Gorneau was conducting a property check at the Country Farm Food Market at 261 West White Horse Pike at 3:37 a.m. Friday when he noticed a hole in the exterior wall of a building.

Gorneau encountered a suspect coming out of the hole and they scuffled, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office, which is overseeing the investigation.

During the struggle, the suspect, who remains at large, threw the crowbar at Gorneau, who responded by shooting at his attacker. There is no evidence showing that the alleged burglar was wounded or not. The suspect supposedly fled the scene and has not been located.

The prosecutor's office announced the recovery of the weapon Saturday.

Gorneau was briefly hospitalized due to minor injuries associated with the scuffle, Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel said Friday.

“The individual involved in the incident is encouraged to come forward to authorities with his or her version of the event,” Housel said in Saturday's release.

The crowbar has been retained for evidence and scientific testing, according to Housel's statement.

Gorneau is new to Galloway, but accustomed to controversey as a police officer. The 28-year-old officer joined Galloway Township police in July.

He had previously worked in Hamilton Township as a police officer, where he lost his job during layoffs there. His tenure in Hamilton was marred by causing a fatal crash in 2007 that killed an elderly man and letting a drunken State Police officer slide in 2008.

In the crash incident, Gorneau was responding to an assist call in nearby Egg Harbor City in a marked Hamilton cruiser, but with his lights and sirens off because the call had been downgraded.

He was traveling about 90 miles per hour on Route 50 when he collided with a car driven by Harry Jackson. Jackson died two hours after being struck. Gorneau was injured, spending several days in the hospital.

Gorneau was not criminally charged, but the officer later pleaded guilty to unsafe driving and was fined in municipal court.

He was punished administratively for violating the department's policy for responding to incidents. Ironically, Hamilton's policy was authored by Jackson's daughter, Capt. Judyth Dunleavy.

Gorneau was suspended without pay for five months and ordered to take remedial training. 

One week after he returned to duty in Hamilton during 2008, Gorneau stopped Sheila McKaig, of the McKee City section of the township, who had been drinking. Gorneau knew McKaig was a State Police officer.

Gorneau drove her back to the Hamilton police station, where one of her colleague's picked her up.

A subsequent investigation found Gorneau to be the ninth Hamilton officer to allow McKaig off without charging her.

The prosecutor's office asks anyone with information involving serious crimes to call the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office at 609-909-7800 or visit acpo.org/tips.html and provide information by filling out the form anonymously on the Submit a Tip page.

Citizens can also call Crime Stoppers at 609-652-1234 or 1-800-658-8477 (TIPS) or visit the Crime Stoppers website at crimestoppersatlantic.com. Crime Stoppers offers cash rewards for information leading to the arrest and indictment of those who commit crimes in Atlantic County.