The Attorney General’s Office is conducting an investigation of a fatal police-involved shooting that occurred on Monday morning, June 7, in Bayonne, N.J.
The decedent has been identified as Lee Waskiewicz, 47, who lived at the address where the shooting occurred.
The officers of the Bayonne Police Department who fired their service weapons at Mr. Waskiewicz are Officer Timothy Ballance Jr. and Officer Edward Taveras.
According to the preliminary investigation, uniformed officers of the Bayonne Police Department responded just after 6:30 a.m. to a 911 call reporting a domestic disturbance at a residence in the first block of West 1st Street.
Shortly after arrival, officers approached Mr. Waskiewicz in a stairwell, but he retreated up the stairs.
Mr. Waskiewicz came back to the stairs armed with a knife.
During a second interaction in the stairwell, Officers Ballance and Taveras fired their service weapons, fatally wounding Mr. Waskiewicz.
Officers rendered medical aid until emergency medical personnel arrived and transported Mr. Waskiewicz to Bayonne Medical Center, where he was pronounced deceased at approximately 7:43 a.m.
This investigation is being conducted pursuant to Attorney General Directive 2019-4, which implements the statutory requirement that the Attorney General’s Office conduct the investigation of any 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, and which establishes clear standards and procedures for conducting such investigations.