JERSEY
CITY - The Attorney General’s Shooting
Response Team is conducting an investigation
into the circumstances surrounding a shooting
incident involving a Jersey City police officer
that occurred on Dwight Street in Jersey City
about 8:30 p.m. last night.
According
to the preliminary investigation, the Jersey
City officer, whose name is not being released
at this point in the investigation, was working
undercover, conducting surveillance from an
unmarked vehicle in the 200 block of Dwight
Street. The officer is assigned to work with
the New Jersey State Police investigating
gang activity and conducting surveillance
in high crime areas in Jersey City. He was
seated in the back seat of the vehicle when
a man, later identified as Kwadir Felton,
approached the driver’s side of the
car, crouched down out of view of the officer,
and was heard chambering a round in a handgun.
Felton then appeared at the driver’s
side window pointing the handgun at the officer.
The officer fired one round through the window
from his service weapon, a .45-caliber handgun,
striking Felton. Felton was taken by ambulance
to Jersey City Medical Center, where he was
admitted, under police guard, for treatment
of a head wound. A Highpoint 9 mm handgun
was recovered beside Felton at the scene.
Felton,
18, of Jersey City, was charged with aggravated
assault, attempted robbery, unlawful possession
of a handgun, and possession of a handgun
for an unlawful purpose. Upon release from
the hospital, he will be remanded to the Hudson
County Jail. Superior Court Judge Fred J.
Theemling Jr. set bail for Felton at $500,000
cash.
The
incident remains under investigation by the
Attorney General’s Shooting Response
Team. Under an Attorney General Directive,
the Shooting Response Team, made up of deputy
attorneys general, detectives of the Division
of Criminal Justice and detectives of the
State Police Major Crime Unit, are dispatched
to the scene to handle investigations of such
incidents. The Shooting Response Team also
receives investigative and administrative
support from county prosecutor’s offices.
The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office
is assisting in the ongoing investigation.
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