Man with rifle kills 20-year-old, shoots 3 cops on Irvington street

IRVINGTON — Police on Thursday killed a man with a rifle after he fatally shot another man on the street and started firing rounds at cops, officials said.

Kaizen Crossen, a 39-year-old township resident, shot the unarmed man on the 300 block of Myrtle Avenue, the state Attorney General's Office said.

Police responded after 11:30 a.m. and encountered Crossen armed with a rifle. The first cop on scene ended up in a shootout with Crossen, resulting in the cop getting shot in his legs. Officials on Thursday did not say who shot first.

The shooting continued when more officers arrived. Two cops were hit and Crossen was fatally wounded.

He and the other man, who authorities had not publicly identified late Thursday afternoon, were pronounced dead at University Hospital in Newark. The officers are expected to survive.

The Attorney General's Office, which is investigating the shooting as mandated by state law governing fatal shootings involving police, did not say Thursday whether they knew what motivated Crossen.

Court records show Crossen was convicted in 1998 of dealing drugs in a school zone, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison. His arrest record in Essex County includes a 2016 bust on eventually dismissed charges of making a threat to kill and being an annoyance. In 2008 he was charged with possession of less than 50 grams of marijuana.

Crossen's Facebook page indicates that he was a father.

Sergio Bichao is deputy digital editor at New Jersey 101.5. Send him news tips: Call 609-359-5348 or email sergio.bichao@townsquaremedia.com.