An investigation is underway after police killed a woman who had been suffering a mental health crisis in Fort Lee. NBC New York’s Adam Harding reports.
Police responding to a reported mental health crisis in New Jersey shot and killed a woman inside an apartment building overnight, the state's attorney general announced Sunday.
Officers from the Fort Lee Police Department responded to "The Pinnacle" complex on Main Street around 1:30 a.m. after a man called 911 to try and get help for his sister, according to Attorney General Matthew Platkin.
In the phone call, the man reportedly said his sister was in crisis and needed to go to the hospital. He also said that she was holding a knife, Platkin's office said in a news release.
After making contact with the 911 caller, police apparently opened the apartment door and found the man's sister and a second woman. They "told the officer not to come in and shut the door," prosecutors said.
Police then breached the door and, "as the sister approached the officer in the hallway," fired a single shot that struck the woman in the chest. She was rushed to a local hospital but did not survive her injuries.
The attorney general said a knife was recovered at the scene. Platkin's office said an investigation is ongoing.
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