A police-involved shooting in Bridgeton, New Jersey claimed a man's life Friday evening.
The man was shot around 3:45 p.m. in an alley near the 200 block of South Avenue, police said.
A police source told NBC10 officers opened fire because the man pulled out a gun during the chase. He died a short time later. The police were not injured.
Witnesses said the man, who lived in the neighborhood, was being chased by police when the shooting happened.
"I seen somebody running across the street and next thing I knew I heard some gunshots," neighbor Otis Bennett said.
Police would not say what started the chase. The Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office is leading the investigation as is protocol when there is a police-involved shooting.
Investigators will be following a newly enacted set of guidelines for handling the probe. The statewide rules were put in place after a 2014 police-involved shooting death in Bridgeton.
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In that case, Jerame Reid was shot and killed during a traffic stop. Months of controversy followed with a grand jury eventually declining to file charges against the officers. The town agreed to a $2 million settlement with Reid's family in the case.
Still, distrust of the police remains in the Cumberland County town. One resident questioned whether shooting was justified.
"They killed him for nothing, that's not the first time...the cops killing blacks and stuff like that," Trevion Scarborough said.
