State authorities are investigating the death of a man shot by a sheriff’s office detective in New Jersey earlier this month.
The New Jersey attorney general’s office said Friday that a detective with the Middlesex County sheriff’s office shot and killed 45-year-old Atiba Lewis on Feb. 16 outside a Plainsboro home.
Law enforcement officers including members of the sheriff’s office were outside the home when they encountered Lewis, and one officer discharged his service weapon, authorities said. Lewis was pronounced dead about 40 minutes later at Princeton Hospital.
Authorities said a knife was recovered near Lewis. No further information about the circumstances of the shooting was immediately released. The attorney general’s office is required to investigate any death occurring during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody.
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