New Jersey police fatally shoot woman said to have knife in response to mental health call

FORT LEE, N.J. (AP) — Police said a woman was fatally shot in the chest by an officer responding to a mental health crisis call, according to New Jersey’s attorney general.

It happened at around 1:25 a.m. Sunday in Fort Lee, across the Hudson River from New York. A man called 911 saying his sister was holding a knife and needed to go to the hospital, according to a statement from New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, whose office is investigating.

Arriving officers opened the apartment door and saw two women, who told them not to enter and shut the door. The officers then continued to knock and ask for the door to be opened, the statement said.

Eventually, they “breached the door,” according to Platkin, and as the caller’s sister approached them, one of the officers fired, hitting her in the chest. She was taken to Englewood Hospital, where she was pronounced deceased.

“A knife was recovered at the scene,” the statement said.

The identities of the woman and officer were not released. Platkin’s office didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking more information.

Under a 2019 law, New Jersey’s attorney general must investigate deaths involving police and present the results to a grand jury.