By Kevin Shea
nj.com
TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey corrections officer shot a 21-year-old woman in Trenton last weekend after the rear window of his vehicle was shattered on Bellevue Avenue, the city police department and Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said.
The officer believed he was being shot at, but what broke his window turned out to be a thrown paint can, a prosecutor’s office spokeswoman said Monday.
The March 18 incident remains under investigation, and no charges have been filed, officials said. The injured woman remains in a city hospital.
The incident occurred on the 500 block of Bellevue Avenue at about 12:20 a.m.
Spokespersons for the Trenton police and Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office gave this account:
The corrections officer told investigators he was sitting in his vehicle with his girlfriend after picking up food when the back window of his vehicle was shattered by suspected gunfire. The officer told his girlfriend to stay put, exited the vehicle and returned fire in the direction of a person who was running back to a another vehicle that appeared to be involved.
The offending car then left the scene, but a woman — a passenger in that vehicle — arrived at a city hospital a short time later with multiple gunshot wounds.
The state corrections officer swiftly identified himself to responding officers. Investigators on scene then found a paint can had caused the rear window damage.
The Trenton police department’s Shooting Response Team is investigating along with the county prosecutor’s office.
The New Jersey Department of Corrections deferred comment to the prosecutor’s office.
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