NJ police fatally shoot woman during 'mental health crisis': Attorney General's Office

FORT LEE, N.J. - Police in Fort Lee fatally shot a woman early Sunday morning after her brother reported she was experiencing a "mental health crisis," according to the Attorney General's Office.

At approximately 1:25 a.m., Fort Lee police officers responded to "The Pinnacle" apartment complex on Main Street after a man called 911 reporting that his sister "was having a mental health crisis and needed to go to the hospital."

"It’s actually scary as well being a resident here on the apartment itself," said a neighbor. 

The man said his sister was holding a knife, the Attorney General's Office said.

One resident didn’t want to go on camera, but he watched the incident escalate through his peephole feet away.

"The girl from inside opened the door to talk to the cops to tell them to give them some time," he recalled.

The Attorney General's Office said when the police arrived they found the sister and another woman.

"The females told the officer not to come in, and shut the door. The officer stood outside knocking on the door asking the females to open the door as additional officers arrived," the Attorney General's Office said in a press release.

A witness said after about 15 minutes, police kicked down the door.

"As soon as the apartment door, I heard the shot boom. I guess she didn’t even step out where they could feel some danger like that so they could open fire," he added.

Officers then breached the door and as the sister approached an officer in the hallway, one officer fired a single shot, striking her in the chest, the Attorney General's Office said. The woman was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead. Her name has not been released. She’s described as a woman of Asian descent in her mid 20s.

"That seems unreasonable and too much. You could’ve used, as harsh as it seems you could’ve used a taser if she had the knife and then just unarmed the woman herself and maybe calmed her down," another resident told FOX 5.

The Attorney General's Office said a knife was recovered at the scene.

The investigation is ongoing.