Three New Jersey police officers were left wounded when a man arrested on stalking charges managed to wrestle a gun from one of them and opened fire inside the Gloucester Township police station early Friday morning.
Police say the suspect overpowered a female officer inside the station when his handcuffs were removed during the booking process.
They say Eddie Jones III, grabbed the officer’s gun and shot her, and then shot two other officers who had been in a nearby room and rushed in to help their colleague. Those two officers fired at Jones, killing him.
One of the police officers was shot multiple times and underwent emergency surgery for a gunshot wound to the abdomen. His life was saved by a bulletproof vest. The other two officers suffered minor injuries.
Jones, 39, has been identified as a New Jersey Department of Corrections employee, police told MyFoxPhilly.
The Willingboro, New Jersey, resident was arrested at around 1am after police received a report of a suspicious man sitting in a car outside his ex-girlfriend home.
When officers uncuffed Jones during processing, he tackled one of them, hit her on the head, pulled a .40 caliber Sig Sauer duty firearm out of her holster and unleashed what was described as a ‘barrage of gunfire.’
The disarmed officer shouted for help, and two of her colleagues came running to her aid from another room. Both were struck by bullets.
The responding officers returned fire, shooting Jones multiple times. He was pronounced dead of his wounds at the scene.
According to officials, Jones was a civilian communications officer with the Department of Corrections.
The officers involved in the shootout were identified as Sgt. James Garber, a 13-year veteran; Sgt. James Kevin Thyne, an eight-year veteran; and Officer Ruth Burns, a one-year veteran.
Garber was hit once in the bulletproof vest, once in the abdomen just below, and he also suffered a graze wound to the head. He had undergone surgery and is listed in stable condition, ABC News reported.
Thyne was shot in his duty belt, which caused a laceration on his stomach, and sustained a graze wound to his chin. Burns was shot in the foot. Both were treated and released from the hospital.
Chief Harry Earle praised the actions of the two officers for their ‘performances of heroic actions.’
All three officers are on administrative lead, which is standard procedure for police involved in shootings.
Gloucester Township Mayor David Mayer said he’s thankful the officers are all expected to make a full recovery, and he also thanked the doctors who treated them at Cooper University Hospital.
‘These guardians in blue leave their families, they leave their homes to protect our families and our homes,’ Mayer said. ‘So today, we are there for them and for their families.’
The police department is located inside of the township’s municipal building on Chews Landing Road.
Police Chief Harry Earle said gunfire erupted inside the police station at about 5.30am. The suspect was brought in for a domestic incident and was being processed when he got into a violent confrontation with officers.
A neighbor told Fox 29 that she heard sirens wailing at around 6am and saw police quickly placing an officer into the back of an ambulance.
Gloucester, which has a population of about 64,000, is in central New Jersey, about 15 miles outside Philadelphia.
The incident is the latest in a wave of gun violence that has swept the U.S., and comes two weeks after a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
One week ago in western Pennsylvania, a man with a pistol fatally shot three people and then opened fire on police.
Three officers were injured in that incident, one in a collision from a car chase with the gunman, another from bullet fragments to the face and a third who was struck with gunfire to the chest but survived because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Stephen Willard | Elite.
