UPDATE: State Probing Cop's Fatal Shooting Of Middletown Man Who Held Baby Hostage

The state Attorney General’s Office says it is probing what led a member of a Monmouth County SWAT team to fatally shoot a 39-year-old Middletown man who was allegedly armed with a knife and holding his young son hostage.

The state Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team is handling the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the shooting of Scott McAllister early Wednesday morning in Middletown, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

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

McAllister, 39, was killed around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday inside his rented home by a member of the Monmouth County Emergency Response Team.

Police were called to the house at 33 Bayside Parkway in the Ideal Beach section of Middletown, around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

That’s when Middletown police received a 911 call reporting a domestic dispute at the house.

When officers arrived, the mother of the 13-month-old boy fled from the home. She told police McAllister was intoxicated, had beaten her, was armed with a knife and was threatening to harm their child.

He was locked inside the home with the 13-month-old and refused to let police inside.

So, the Monmouth County Emergency Response Team was called to the scene, and a hostage negotiator worked through the night, trying to convince McAllister to turn the child over to officers and surrender peacefully.

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

One SWAT team member fired at McAllister.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The child was near McAllister and was not harmed. Authorities had initially said the child was 17-months-old, but late Wednesday, they said the boy was actually only 13-months-old.

The shooting is under investigation by the Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team.

Under a directive from the state Attorney General, that team, made up of deputy attorneys general, detectives of the Division of Criminal Justice, and detectives of the State Police Major Crime Unit, handles investigations of shootings involving state troopers or officers employed by county prosecutors as detectives/investigators or members of county emergency response teams and task forces.

Other Patch stories:

• 20 Charged in ‘Sexting’ Scandal in Two New Jersey Schools
• Search Is On For Those In Contact With N.J. Man Who Died Of Infectious Disease From West Africa
• Cabbie In Crash That Killed John Nash Began Driving Taxi Two Weeks Ago
• Vet, Service Dog Kicked Out of Parsippany 7-Eleven on Memorial Day
• VIDEO: How Are The Jersey Shore Beaches Faring?