N.J. is investigating police shooting of homeowner Updated: August 1, 2016 — 11:59 PM EDT
The New Jersey Attorney General's Office is investigating, having acknowledged that a New Jersey State Police trooper fired four shots into Gerald Sykes' home on the 300 block of Centerton Road.
by Chris Palmer, Staff Writer
His dog was barking, and his wife was worried.
So Gerald Sykes, leery of what appeared to be people wandering around his property in Upper Deerfield Township, N.J., about 11:30 p.m. Friday, got out of bed, loaded his shotgun, and walked toward the back of his house, according to Rich Kaser, a longtime family friend.
As Sykes took stock of his surroundings near a set of French doors, the 76-year-old was hit by three bullets through the glass, Kaser said.
After firing a shell while falling backward, Kaser said, Sykes retreated to the bedroom he shares with his wife in a panic, bleeding, calling 911, and screaming that he was going to die.
"He thought they were coming in to get him and his wife," Kaser said.
Not until Saturday afternoon did Sykes, recovering at Cooper University Hospital, learn that he had been shot by police.
The New Jersey Attorney General's Office is investigating, having acknowledged that a New Jersey State Police trooper fired four shots into Sykes' home on the 300 block of Centerton Road. Officers responded to the Cumberland County property, mistakenly believing that a disconnected 911 call had originated there, prosecutors said. They have not said whether the officer or Sykes fired first.
They also have not said why the officer fired at all, saying simply that "there was an exchange of gunfire" after the officers approached the doors and shined flashlights into the home, announcing that they were responding to a 911 call.
Kaser, a Woodbury lawyer who said he had known Sykes and his wife for three decades, called the incident "bizarre" and a "tragic mistake" that has traumatized the couple.
"It's going to have a major impact on the rest of their lives," Kaser said.
He visited Sykes in the hospital this weekend, he said. Officials said Sunday that Sykes was in stable condition, and Kaser said he had been moved out of the intensive-care unit and was no longer relying on a ventilator.
Still, complications remained. Sykes' spleen had been removed, according to Kaser, and he had cuts on his face because of the shattered glass from the doors. Two bullets struck him in the chest and another in the groin.
An officer suffered a graze wound, prosecutors said, and both troopers were treated at Inspira Medical Center in Vineland and released.
For nearly half a day after the shooting, Kaser said, Sykes had no idea police had shot him. The officers involved offered no help at the scene, according to Kaser, and when authorities responded to his 911 call to take Sykes to the hospital, they made him walk onto his front lawn in a blood-soaked shirt - and they handcuffed him.
Sykes' wife, Margot, meanwhile, was taken to the police station in her nightgown, Kaser said.
"There's a whole lot here that doesn't make sense," he said.
Authorities provided no details about their interaction with Sykes beyond saying that dispatchers "facilitated Mr. Sykes' coming out of his house so that he could receive medical treatment."
Prosecutors said Saturday that they would release no further details about the shooting because of the ongoing investigation.
Kaser said that the family was considering a lawsuit, but that the couple, while scarred, were "not angry at police."
Sykes "did what any person would do" upon learning of potential intruders, Kaser said. "Somebody [else], it appears, overreacted."