Note: Members of the press can email the Communications Office to obtain a link to download the recordings.

TRENTON — The Attorney General’s Office today released audio recordings from two 911 calls and video footage from body-worn cameras and a taser video related to a fatal police-involved shooting on February 4, 2023 in Fort Lee. The decedent has been identified as Mohamed Bounaouar, 42, of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The fatal shooting remains under investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA). The recordings are being released pursuant to policies established by the Attorney General’s Office in 2019 to promote the fair, impartial, and transparent investigation of fatal police encounters. Investigators provided representatives of Mr. Bounaouar’s family an opportunity to review the recordings prior to their release.

According to the preliminary investigation, on February 4, 2023, at approximately 8:16 a.m., the Fort Lee Police Department responded to John Street in Fort Lee following a 911 call from a family member reporting that Mr. Bounaouar was inside the home armed with a knife, acting in an aggressive manner, and cutting his own belongings.

The family member further informed law enforcement, that, along with Mr. Bouanoaur, four other people were inside the dwelling. Fort Lee police officers spoke to the relatives still inside the home and asked them to isolate themselves in a room away from Mr. Bounaouar.

Officers entered the townhouse and attempted to speak to Mr. Bounaouar from the bottom of a staircase. Later, relatives exited the house. With the assistance of law enforcement, all except one of the family members that lived in the home were able to leave.  The family informed the officers that there was a family member on the third floor who was unable to exit, as Mr. Bounaouar was occupying the second floor.

Throughout the morning, additional resources from the Fort Lee Police Department responded to the scene including crisis negotiators, the Emergency Response Team (ERT), along with the Fort Lee Fire Department. Police continued attempting to negotiate with Mr. Bounaouar as items were being thrown down the stairs in the vicinity of officers and various items were being broken in the townhouse by Mr. Bounaouar.

In an effort to get the remaining family member out of the third floor, additional officers were positioned on a neighboring balcony, adjacent to the balcony of the townhouse that Mr. Bounaouar was occupying. At approximately 10:20 a.m., the Fort Lee Fire Department and law enforcement, using a bucket truck, attempted to remove the remaining family member from the townhouse’s third-floor window. During this effort, Mr. Bounaouar exited the residence onto his second-floor rear balcony. There, he moved in the direction of the officers who were on the neighboring balcony. Officer Emmanuel Espinal deployed a taser and Detectives John Gallo and Stephen Domenick discharged their firearms, striking Mr. Bounaouar. Officer Espinal then deployed his taser a second time.

After hearing the gunfire, the officers who had been posted at the bottom of the stairs, within the residence, ascended the staircase to the second floor. They found Mr. Bounaouar wounded and lying on the floor of the balcony. They ordered him to drop the knife, but he rose to his feet and began moving towards them while still holding the knife. At that point, Officers Matthew Lyle and Gabriel Avella discharged their firearms, striking Mr. Bounaouar. Officers then removed two knives located near Mr. Bounaouar. 

Emergency medical personnel rendered first aid at the scene. Mr. Bounaouar was pronounced deceased at approximately 10:39 a.m. One officer sustained an injury to his hand.

The recordings are available here: https://njoag.box.com/s/xhglxybg4m0f37syusglwkctacfa2mod

A 2019 law, P.L. 2019, c. 1, requires the Attorney General’s Office to conduct investigations of a person’s death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody. It requires that all such investigations be presented to a grand jury to determine if the evidence supports the return of an indictment against the officer or officers involved.

The investigation is ongoing and no further information is being released at this time.

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