Secaucus Reels After Man Killed In Police Shooting

SECAUCUS, NJ — The small town of Secaucus is reeling after a man was shot and killed by police Sunday evening in a dramatic chase and shoot-out through the streets and woods of Harmon Cove, a normally quiet, bucolic condo community on the banks of the Hackensack River.

Harmon Cove is an upscale development of about 500 condo units. Police shot and killed the man in the area of Sea Isle Key sometime after 6 p.m. on Sunday evening, Dec. 1.

The incident started off as a domestic dispute in one of the condos on Sea Isle Key, said Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli.

"The Attorney General’s Shooting Response Task Force is conducting an investigation of an officer-involved shooting that occurred in the 300 block of Sea Isle Key in the Harmon Cove residential development in Secaucus," said a spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General at 11:30 p.m. Sunday. "One male civilian sustained fatal injuries."

The man has not been identified.

By law, the attorney general always investigates when there is a person killed by a police officer in the state of New Jersey, under what authorities call "use of deadly force."

The office of Attorney General Gurbir Grewal is now the lead investigating agency in this case; Secaucus police are prohibited from releasing more details about the incident. The AG usually releases a full breakdown of the events within a few days of the fatality.

Harmon Cove residents hear up to 20 gunshots, huddle inside their homes

Fellow Harmon Cove residents describe a Sunday evening of fear and confusion. Neighbors who live in the densely packed condo community reported seeing a man armed with a gun out in the middle of the street, and hearing police commands. One woman said she cowered in her condo with her children as they heard gunshots echo outside.

"We heard gunshots and we thought it was some fireworks," said Harmon Cove resident Felix Arockiaraj. "When we peeked through the window, we saw a man with a gun standing next to the car. And the car was in the middle of the road ... We didn't know what was happening and then we were hearing some loud shouting and commands, which was not clear. Then a series of gunshots."

Arockiaraj said as soon as he saw the man armed with the gun, he turned off the lights and ran away from the windows, fearing for his own safety.

"We stayed low for the next hour or so," he said. "And then after an hour we went to peek outside the window; there were like 100 cops, SWAT team and some 30-40 cop cars, ambulances and other enforcement vehicles."

Other neighbors describe a similar scene, of hearing gunshots being exchanged through the trees and seeing heavily armed police officers running through the community with flashlights and police dogs.

"I heard around four rounds of shooting at around 6 p.m. I initially thought it's some fireworks ... I see a bunch of cops walking around heavily armed and with torch lights," said one man.

He said he had no idea what was going on, until he tried to walk outside and was screamed at by police officers to get back inside his condo.

"I tried to go outside and see people (later I realized they are cops) shouting at me to get inside," he said.

"I would say there had to be as many as 15-20 shots at different intervals," said another resident. "I was on the phone and told the person I was talking to, 'Sounds like shooting outside.' I thought, couldn't be. Not in this neighborhood."

A fourth resident, a woman, said she saw many police cars and flashlights bobbing through the woods of the development.

"It looked like they were looking for somebody, with police cars going up and down the roads," she said.

Harmon Cove residents were told by the town in a text alert to stay in their homes and not go outside. That was lifted at 7:40 p.m. Sunday after the man was shot and killed by police.

"No Secaucus police officers were injured. Nobody from Secaucus was hurt," said Gonnelli.

A normally quiet town

The last time there was a crime of this magnitude in Secaucus was in 2011, when a lawyer was accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death. That also occurred in Harmon Cove, in a condo on Sandcastle Key. However, all charges against him were dismissed; he maintains she attacked herself and her death was ultimately ruled a suicide.

State law "requires that the Attorney General’s Office conduct investigations of a person’s death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody," said a spokesman for the attorney general.

"It was a horrible thing," Gonnelli told NorthJersey.com of the man killed Sunday night. "It was a domestic situation."

Original Patch report: Domestic Incident Leads To Police-Involved Shooting In Secaucus