Woodbridge Police Justified in Fatal Shooting of Armed Man, Prosecutor Determines

Woodbridge, NJ - Woodbridge police were justified in the fatal shooting of an armed man in the Avenel section of town on Oct. 5, 2015, the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office has determined.

The incident started with the fatal stabbing of a woman and a man in Old Bridge, and ended with Rodney Jencsik, 49, covered in blood and highly intoxicated, barricading himself in a trailer at 27 Freddie Avenue in Woodbridge, police said. After four hours of failed negotiations, and tear gas being deployed twice, Jencsik pointed a weapon at police officers and as a result, an officer fire his gun twice, killing him.

After a months-long Use of Force investigation, the shooting was justified, the county prosecutor said.

It started in Old Bridge Township on Monday, October 5, 2015: Old Bridge police and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office were called for a report of a stabbing at a home on Englishtown Road. Two people were found seriously injured inside the home: A woman, Dina Marie Heil, 46, was rushed to a local hospital, but she succumbed to her wounds. A man, 56, whose name was never released, had also been stabbed and he was taken to the same hospital in serious condition. He ended up surviving the stabbing.

Heil was dating the man, but she had also previously had a relationship with Jencsik. Jencsik fled the scene in a Jaguar, registered in his name. A description of the Jag was broadcast to surrounding towns. His car was then observed in Woodbridge Township, where a marked Woodbridge patrol car tried to pull him over. Jencsik failed to comply and fled from the officer. Jencsik then slammed the car into a fence and the side of a daycare center on Avenel Street, and then parked in front of 27 Freddie Avenue, a trailer park in Avenel. As Patch reported at the time, Jencsik lived in that trailer and he ran out of the car covered in blood and and holding a handgun. He ran into 27 Freddie Avenue, and barricaded himself inside the trailer.

Crisis negotiators arrived on scene and tried to talk to him. Jencsik sounded upset and extremely intoxicated and conversations lacked any meaningful dialogue, police said. He warned negotiators that if they tried to enter through the doorway it would explode. Crisis negotiators eventually lost phone contact with Jencsik and subsequent attempts went directly to voicemail.

Woodbridge police special ops then decided to deploy chemical agents, specifically Ortho-Chloro-Benzal-Malononitrile, commonly known as “CS" or tear gas. CS is classified as a lacrimator, a substance that irritates the eyes and skin, and is also a respiratory irritant. The point of the CS was to have Jencsik exit and surrender, police said.

Once the CS was deployed, Jencsik kicked open the trailer door and while holding a “dark-colored object” shouted to the officers, “I will kill you!," the police said. Officers ordered him to drop the black-colored object, believed to be a handgun, which was pointed in the direction of the officers. More CS was deployed. Jencsik was then heard stating, “Come in here and I will kill you” and, “Don’t make me do it."

Jencsik was observed waving a handgun in the officer’s directions and ultimately pointing it directly at them. Officers continued to order him to "drop the gun." As Jencsik continued to point a handgun at officers, Officer #2 fired two less lethal rounds at Jencsik. Almost simultaneously, Officer #1 observed Jencsik still standing and fired two rounds striking him in the chest. Officers then began to provide medical assistance to Jencsik, and he was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 10:30 that night. A .45 caliber handgun and a sawed off shotgun were recovered inside the trailer.

A Use of Force investigation was required by law after the fatal police shooting.

"The investigation concerning the use of deadly force in this matter determined that the level of force utilized was justifiable under N.J.S.A. 2C: 3-4, specifically by Rodney Jencsik ignoring commands to drop his weapon, specifically a handgun which could cause serious bodily injury or death," Middlesex County prosecutor Andrew Carey determined. "Furthermore, Mr. Jencsik brandished said weapon in such a way as to infer intent to harm; and having already exhibited the willingness to cause serious bodily injury and death to others in the commission of the crimes he had previously committed in the Township of Old Bridge, resulted in the Officer having a reasonable belief that in the absence of such level of force, he (Officer #1) and other officers present at the scene were in jeopardy of incurring serious bodily injury or death."