Fatal Police-Involved Shooting In Toms River Followed Altercation: Authorities

TOMS RIVER, NJ — (Updated, 7:30 p.m.) Authorities are continuing to investigate a police-involved shooting in Toms River that killed a 56-year-old man on Tuesday afternoon, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor's office, said the office's Major Crimes Unit and the Ocean County Sheriff's Department Crime Scene Investigation unit were called to the Silver Ridge Apartments, 109 Edgewood Court, in reference a reported police-involved shooting.

Della Fave said the detectives' preliminary report said Toms River police were called to the apartment complex about 12:30 p.m. for a report of a person believed to be needing mental health intervention services.

During the course of the two Toms River officers' investigation, a physical altercation took place after the officers found the man, described only as a 56-year-old white male, Della Fave said.

"That altercation lead to the discharge of a service weapon(s)," Della Fave said in a written statement issued to news organizations. The man was subsequently pronounced dead, he said.

An autopsy by the Ocean County Medical Examiner's Office will be conducted, and a full report regarding the cause and manner of death will be included in future investigative findings, Della Fave said.

"At this time the investigation and scene processing are the priority. When all the facts and circumstances surrounding the event are definitively confirmed a full account will be issued to the press by our office," he said. "This will not take place today. We ask for your patience and willingness to refrain from soliciting unofficial sources in an effort to rush to judgment."

The incident is the first police-involved shooting in Ocean County this year. In 2016, there were two shootings in Toms River.

One, in July, occurred when a man being chased by police in the area of Brown's Woods brandished a gun and aimed it at police, authorities said at the time. That man, Timothy J. Sauers, 30, of Toms River, was treated for his injuries. He has been at the Ocean County Jail, Toms River, since July 22, according to jail records, on charges including aggravated assault on a police officer for aiming the gun, which turned out to be an air gun, at police.

The second, in October, occurred when a man called 911 to report a person with a weapon to draw a police response and then used a television remote control to make it appear he had a weapon, the prosecutor's office said at the time. Authorities said that man had been seeking to die by suicide by cop. He was hospitalized in critical condition at the time of the shooting, but whether he survived was unclear because the man's name was not released to protect his privacy.

Manchester Township police were faced with a suicide-by-cop incident in 2016 as well, when a Toms River man called police and told them he planned to die by suicide. Police and a SWAT team also shot and killed a Manchester man early in 2016 when the man refused to drop a knife and lunged at police. Law enforcement officers were cleared in that shooting by the state attorney general's office.

This is a breaking news report and will be updated as more information becomes available.

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