A Piscataway, New Jersey, mayor says the man shot and killed by police this week after allegedly wielding a machete had already murdered three relatives inside a nearby home.
Officers with the Piscataway Police Department responded to a residence on River Road around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 5, after a man called 911 to report that someone had a knife, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office said in a press release.
When police arrived, they encountered the armed suspect. After multiple unsuccessful attempts to subdue him with tasers, officers fatally shot the man, according to reports from NJ.com, Fox 5 NY and News 12 New Jersey.
After the shooting, authorities discovered three dead people inside the home, the attorney general’s office said. Their cause of death has not been released.
Speaking to reporters outside the property on Tuesday, Jan. 6, Piscataway Mayor Brian C. Wahler said the victims were the suspect’s mother and grandparents, according to NJ.com and News 12.
“You have to understand, there’s a husband who is about to bury a wife, parents, and a son,” Wahler said, adding that the husband of one of the victims was the person who called 911.
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Wahler also said he believes that, based on the preliminary investigation, officers “followed every guideline and gave every available opportunity to the perpetrator,” per News 12.
“Given the fact that the individual was carrying a machete and he’s already committed three murders inside, you know, you have to think about the officer’s health a little bit, too,” Wahler told reporters.
The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the three deaths, according to the release.
“This appears to be an isolated incident, and there is no indication of an ongoing threat to the community,” police wrote on social media Monday.
