Newark police officers shot and killed a man after he fired a shotgun at them Thursday evening, authorities said.
Someone called police about a man with a shotgun at the corner of Hunterdon Street and Custer Avenue, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
The officers arrived at the scene shortly before 5 p.m. and encountered the suspect, who fired at them with the shotgun and missed, authorities said.
That’s when two officers opened fire on the man, striking him at least once.
The man, later identified as 37-year-old Kenneth Francis, was rushed to University Hospital. He died of his injuries about an hour later.
No officers were injured in the shootout.
The officers located the person who called police. He or she told police that the man had pointed the shotgun at them before officers arrived.
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Meanwhile, residents who live near the scene of the shooting were rattled, with one mom saying her 7-year-old daughter goes to school just a block away.
Few details about the shooting were released Thursday. Some neighbors said police had to shoot the man.
"It wasn't right for him to shoot at police," Tyrone Boykins said. "They had to do their job."
Troy Scottbey was more hesitant to believe the official account of events.
"That's what they say, he had a shotgun," Scottbey said. "I don't know, you don't know. We weren't there at the time."
An investigation into the shooting by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is ongoing.
