Middletown Man Killed By Police Had Prior Arrest, Report Says

The man who was fatally shot by a SWAT team member in Middletown this week had prior arrests, including one in Highlands for a domestic case, a published report said.

Scott McAllister was arrested in Highlands in May 2014 on aggravated assault, criminal restraint and weapons charges, according to NJ.com.

That incident involved the child’s mother and the weapon was a knife, but details about the disposition of that case were not available, the newspaper said.

McAllister, 39, was fatally shot around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, hours after police were called to the Bayside Parkway home for a reported domestic dispute, authorities said.

Neighbors told CBS New York that McAllister worked as a fisherman.

WABC reported that the couple moved in less than a year ago. One neighbor told that television station that he heard police trying to negotiate with McAllister on Wednesday, telling him to answer his phone and come out with his hands up.

The state Attorney General’s Office has said, according to preliminary information:

When police arrived at the home in the Ideal Beach section of Middletown around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, the baby’s mother fled from the house and told police that he was intoxicated, had beaten her, had a knife and was threatening to harm their child, a 13-month-old boy.

McAllister, who was in the home with the baby, refused to let police inside, authorities said.

So, the Monmouth County Emergency Response Team was called. A hostage negotiator spent hours trying to get McAllister to release the baby and surrender peacefully.

Around 4:30 a.m., the SWAT team forced their way inside, “where they encountered McAllister, who is believed to have been armed with a knife.”

One member of the SWAT team fired at McAllister.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The baby, who was near McAllister, was not harmed.

As is routine, the state Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team is handling the investigation into the shooting because it involved a member of a county emergency response team.