Man Charged With Attempted Murder After Salem Armed Standoff

SALEM CITY, NJ - The man arrested following an armed standoff in Salem on Wednesday has been charged with attempted murder.

Eric Smith, 26 of Quinton Township, has been charged with attempted murder, after shooting at U.S. Marshals agents who were trying to arrest him on an outstanding warrant on Wednesday, according to the Salem County Prosecutor's Office.

Smith has also been charged with aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, certain persons not to have weapons and the unlawful possession of a weapon without a permit.

The warrant stems from an incident in which Smith hit a police car while attempting to flee a traffic stop in Salem on Jan. 7, according to nj.com. He was attempting to flee the scene after an officer smelled marijuana in his car and called for backup.

U.S. Marshals agents attempted to arrest him in Salem at about 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, but he shot at them. At least one agent returned fire, and Smith retreated into a building on East Broadway, leading to a hours-long standoff, according to the prosecutor's office.

After negotiators communicated with him at about 3 p.m., Smith exited the building and surrendered peacefully. No one was injured at any point during the initial exchange of shots and ensuing standoff.

His aunt, Rebecca Holmes, told 6 ABC that her nephew isn’t a violent character.

"This is not Eric," she told the network. "This is just shocking to me. I'm just thanking God he's okay."

New Jersey State Police, federal, county and local law enforcement all responded to the scene. County offices and local schools were on lockdown during the standoff.

Attorney General Gurbir Grewal learned of the incident while holding a joint press conference with Gov. Phil Murphy on the opioid crisis in Camden early Wednesday afternoon.

"The best information we have right now is that it's a standoff between law enforcement and a fugitive ... that they were in the course of attempting to arrest and there were some shots fired," Grewal said before leaving the press conference, according to the Courier Post.

The bottom floor of 172 East Broadway is an H&R Block tax office, and the second and third floor house apartments, according to NJ 101.5.

Image/video via YouTube.