The circumstances behind an incident in which an off-duty member of the U.S. Marshals Service fired rounds from his service weapon Sunday evening are under investigation, acting Union County Prosecutor Thomas K. Isenhour announced Monday.
According to authorities, at approximately 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, the off-duty U.S. Marshal was driving on the Garden State Parkway in Union County when he was involved in a collision with an SUV, according to the preliminary results of an investigation being led by the Prosecutor’s Office’s Shooting Response Team and assisted by the Union County Sheriff’s Office Identification Unit and Union County Police Department Ballistics Unit.
The Marshal followed the SUV off the Parkway and attempted to pull it over on a dead-end street in Union Township, at which time he fired multiple rounds from his service weapon as the SUV left the scene in his direction, the investigation revealed.
Approximately four hours later, the SUV and its two occupants were located in Kenilworth. Neither occupant was injured, but the vehicle had been struck by gunfire.
As of midday Monday no charges had been filed in connection with this incident.
The Shooting Response Team’s investigation remains active and ongoing, and anyone with information about this matter is being urged to contact Prosecutor’s Office Detective Dennis Donovan at 908-527-4558.
This investigation is being conducted in strict accordance with New Jersey Office of the Attorney General Directive 2006-5 and the July 28, 2015 supplemental directive, which govern all investigations into use of deadly force by law enforcement.