ORANGE (AP) — A man armed with a knife was shot and seriously wounded Saturday by two police officers in northern New Jersey after he lunged at one of them, authorities said.

 

Police seal off Central Avenue in Orange following a police shooting incident
Police seal off Central Avenue in Orange following a police shooting incident ( ABC 7)
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The two officers were injured in the confrontation in Orange, treated at a hospital and later released, but authorities said their names would not be released for "safety reasons."

The man, who was not immediately identified, was hospitalized in critical condition, the Essex County prosecutor's office said in a news release.

The office said that around 9 a.m., East Orange police responded to reports of a middle-aged man brandishing a weapon at a doughnut shop. They told him to drop the knife and tried to subdue him when he refused, but the man got away and started walking off, the office said. He was confronted by police officers from Orange, who happened to be at a nearby park.

An officer used pepper spray on the man, who police say then lunged at another officer and made contact with her shoulder. She and a third officer then discharged their weapons, firing six shots in all. All three officers were in uniform, the prosecutor's office said.

Authorities did not yet know how many shots struck the man. The prosecutor's office said he appears to be in his late 50s; residents told authorities he lives in the area.

 

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