Audio released: Police kill Hillsborough, NJ man armed with 3-foot sword

HILLSBOROUGH — Audio from a parked police cruiser has been released, stemming from the police shooting death of a 43-year-old township man inside his own home this past fall.

Patrick Chin, of Hillsborough, was shot and killed as officers said he refused to drop a 3-foot long sword during a September confrontation with police who were carrying out a welfare check on him, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

Chin bought the Piedmont Path home with his then-fiancé in 2020 and they were married in June 2021, according to his online obituary.

He was raised in Voorhees and graduated from Rutgers University’s Cook College, before launching a career in information technology.

While there is data from the mobile video recorder on Sept. 28, 2021, there is no body camera footage or other video footage of the actual shooting, state officials said.

For the first half of the six minutes of street-view footage released on Monday, one police vehicle is waiting for a second cruiser to arrive.

Around four minutes in, responding officers approach the house and are heard calling for Patrick to open a door and then repeatedly yell “Patrick drop it — Patrick drop the weapon.”

By the five minute, 30 second mark an officer reports “shots fired.”

Investigators previously met with Chin’s family to review the recording.

During the encounter, Hillsborough police officer Robert Feriello deployed pepper spray at Chin, while officer George Kokinakous fired his service weapon, fatally shooting him.

He received first aid and was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just over a hour later.

The fatal shooting remains under investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability.