UPDATE: AG’s Office Releases Body-Worn Camera Footage from Investigation into July 28, 2024 Fatal Police-Involved Shooting in Fort Lee, N.J.

TRENTON — The Attorney General’s Office today released footage from police body-worn cameras and audio recordings of two 911 calls relating to the fatal shooting of Victoria G. Lee, 25, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, on July 28, 2024, during an encounter with Fort Lee Police Officer Tony Pickens, Jr.

The fatal police encounter is 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 designed to promote the fair, impartial, and transparent investigation of fatal police encounters. Investigators previously met with representatives of Ms. Lee’s family to review the recordings.

According to the investigation, on July 28 at approximately 1:25 a.m., police officers from the Fort Lee Police Department responded to a home in “The Pinnacle” apartment complex on Main Street, after a man twice called 911 reporting that his sister was having a mental health crisis and requested she be taken to Valley Hospital in Paramus

During the first call, the dispatcher informed the caller that an ambulance and police officer would be sent.  After the man indicated that “just the ambulance” would be fine, the dispatcher informed the caller that officers had to be sent for mental health calls for the safety of ambulance personnel.

In a second call to 911, the man initially requested to cancel the call.  The dispatcher stated that mental health calls could not be cancelled and that officers would arrive momentarily.  The dispatcher asked the caller why he wanted to cancel the call; the man responded that his sister had a knife.  The dispatcher confirmed that the sister was still in a bedroom in the apartment, informed again that the officers would be there momentarily, and inquired whether his sister was trying to cut anyone with the knife or was just holding it.  The caller stated, “She’s just holding it,” going on to describe that it was a “foldable” knife.

Upon arrival to the apartment, Officer Tony Pickens, Jr. spoke to the caller in the building’s hallway. Officer Pickens then opened the apartment door and observed two females: the caller’s sister, identified as Ms. Lee, and Ms. Lee’s mother, who was holding a dog.  They told the officer not to come in and shut the door. Officer Pickens stood outside knocking on the door, asking the women to open the door as additional officers arrived.  After the occupants did not comply, Officer Pickens, speaking through the door, advised that he would have to break the door down.  Ms. Lee replied, “Go ahead, I’ll stab you in the fucking neck.”  After discussion of which officers would be assigned “lethal” and “less lethal” duties, officers breached the door.  As Ms. Lee approached the officers in the hallway, and officers shouted, “Drop the knife,” Officer Pickens fired a single shot, striking Ms. Lee in the chest.  Officers provided immediate medical aid.  Ms. Lee was transported to Englewood Hospital, where she was pronounced deceased at approximately 1:58 a.m.  A knife was recovered at the scene.

The recordings are available here: https://njoag.box.com/s/xihweknlkeq7vrekx9693qbyyramgu86

N.J.S.A. 52:17B-107(a)(2), 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.

Further information about how fatal police encounters are investigated in New Jersey under the Independent Prosecutor Directive is posted on the Attorney General’s website here.

###