
Bodycam, 911 audio reveal chaos in Piscataway family massacre
🚔 Bodycam, 911 audio released in Piscataway triple homicide
📞 Calls captured frantic pleas as young man threatened family
⚖️ State reviewing cop-involved shooting that left accused attacker dead
PISCATAWAY — Body camera footage from five responding officers and clips of two 911 calls have been released by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office in the Piscataway police response to a triple family homicide earlier this year.
On Jan. 5, officers found 60-year-old Jeanmarie Barnes and her parents-in-law, 86-year-old Richard A. Barnes and 84-year-old Brenda F. Barnes, all dead inside the family’s River Road home, with apparent knife wounds.
The victims’ son and grandson, respectively, 29-year-old Jordan Barnes was shot and killed by an officer after officials said he refused police entry and yelled threats, while holding a kitchen knife.
911 calls capture chaos inside River Road home
Piscataway Police received two 911 calls on Jan. 5 at 5:30 p.m.
In the first, a woman is heard shouting “stop, stop” mixed with background yelling and possible sobs. The 90-second clip ends with a dispatcher saying there’s an emergency going on.
That call was later confirmed as made from the cell phone of Jeanmarie Barnes.
The state Attorney General’s Office also released four minutes of the second call, placed by Jordan Barnes ’ father, who frantically asks for immediate help.
“He says he’s gonna kill us all, he’s f***ing going ballistic,” the man says, adding “please help” as the dispatcher asks the caller to calm down.
The dispatcher asks what kinds of weapons are in the house, as muffled shouting and cursing are heard.
About a minute later, the man says, “I can’t run anymore, I can’t run anymore — he just chased me.”
He says that Jordan Barnes is running “all over the house and the yard.”
Jordan Barnes is described as wearing a brown or black colored Carhartt hoodie, as his father adds, “He’s a white male, 29, big beard, long hair.”
“No, no, he’s never been violent, ever,” the man responds when asked if anything like this ever happened before.
“I have weapons, but they’re all locked up in my safe — there’s no way to get into them, the only thing is knives, from the kitchen,” he adds.
Three minutes into the call, the dispatcher says an officer is pulling up at the home.
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Bodycam video shows confrontation before fatal shooting
Bodycam footage has been shared from all five officers at the River Road scene when the shots were fired.
The first officer walks up the driveway as Jordan Barnes is standing on the front porch stairs. The officer asks if he’s alright and asks him to “come here.”
Barnes begins to approach, saying, “These people tried to lock me in the car and kill me.”
But, as the officer turns a flashlight in his direction, Barnes backs up the stairs, saying “no, no,” — picks something up from the porch and goes back inside, locking the door behind him.
“You’re not getting in this f***ing house,” Barnes is then heard yelling from upstairs.
Other officers arrive, and one tries to get him to talk, as Barnes shouts, “You're going to have to call the ambulance.“
The first officer is one of three armed with tasers as the door is opened and Barnes is tased, before being shot.
Bodycam footage from the second officer shows him peering in through a decorative side window, and he says there are people on the ground inside.
He urges another officer to “go get a med bag.”
Then, officers say they have to make entry as there are victims inside — they use a spare key that Barnes’ father directs them to on the porch.
Before the door is opened, police say repeatedly that they are going to tase Barnes.
Stun guns are deployed, but do not appear to be immediate in bringing him down. The second officer fires what sounds like four gunshots, and Barnes drops to the porch.
The same officer then goes inside and says he sees two victims on the floor at the bottom of a staircase, near a Christmas tree that is still up.
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A third officer’s bodycam shows Barnes from the upstairs window, which he opens and shouts, “You better call a f***ing ambulance cuz you’re not getting in this house.”
The third officer attempts to negotiate as Barnes threatens, “I’m going to kill you,” and again asks for an ambulance.
He is also seen holding a taser as the door is opened and Barnes confronts them, holding a knife.
Officer four also has a taser, as seen in his bodycam video. He urges his fellow officers to make entry as there are victims seen inside.
Barnes’ father is heard saying, “Tase him or tackle him - I’ll help you, I’ll beat his f***ing head in.”
After the shots are fired, the same man is heard crying, “Oh my god!”
The fourth officer later calls in the request for at least three ambulances and three medic units.
The fifth officer stands farther away on the front lawn and asks Barnes to call him, as Barnes shouts from the window.
That officer stands in the driveway and says he’s going to try and get Barnes on the phone, saying on his radio, “He does have a knife and he did make a slitting hand gesture.”
The same fifth officer goes back to a cruiser and is bringing the med bag back to the porch as the taser goes off, and the shots are fired.
Investigations underway into homicides and police use of force
Just under 10 minutes of radio transmissions were also released. A dispatcher describes the first call as a lot of commotion in the background, with “a woman screaming and a male crying.”
The second dispatcher says, “There’s a 29-year -old male threatening to kill his family - there are weapons in the house.” He adds, “The phone went down. I just hear a lot of screaming in the background.”
Authorities recovered one large kitchen knife from the front porch, which Barnes had been holding, and a second, broken knife from the immediate threshold of the home, police said.
The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating the deaths of the initial three victims, while the state is reviewing the use of deadly police force under a routine process.
Victims Richard and Brenda Barnes were residents of a senior development in Barnegat, Jersey Shore Online reported, where neighbors were stunned to hear of their horrific deaths.
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