Long Branch, NJ families lose home in fire during standoff

LONG BRANCH — A family was displaced by the fire set by a man during a standoff with police early Saturday morning.

A man being served a warrant Friday night at an apartment house located at 274 Chelsea Ave. fired at officers, striking one in the leg, according to acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey. He then barricaded himself in the apartment until 2 a.m. when shots were fired.

The man came outside and fired again at officers who returned fire. One of the shots fatally struck the man whose identity was not disclosed by Linskey.

He also set the apartment house on fire, damaging the top floors where two families called home for over 30 years, according to a GoFundMe page created to assist the Itzol family.

"My mother and brothers, in one apartment and my uncle and his family in another, both of which were upstairs apartments, have lost everything in their homes due to damages the building suffered," Dennis Itzol wrote on the page.

Itzol said it was the only home many members of the family have known and had hosted many family celebrations.

The state Attorney General's office is investigating the shooting.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ