| RUTHERFORD – The Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team is conducting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding a shooting in Rutherford at approximately 2:27 a.m. this morning in which police fatally shot the driver of a stolen vehicle after a pursuit. A passenger in the stolen SUV was arrested. The two men, who had a loaded handgun and a ski mask, allegedly were attempting to steal or break into vehicles.
According to the preliminary investigation, the stolen SUV was the subject of a law enforcement alert. This was because an occupant of the vehicle allegedly attempted to break into another vehicle in the driveway of a residence in North Arlington earlier this morning. After the attempted break-in, Lyndhurst Police spotted the stolen Nissan Armada SUV and attempted to stop it. However, the vehicle failed to stop and instead proceeded to drive recklessly through Lyndhurst and surrounding towns. Lyndhurst Police pursued the vehicle, and the State Police and Rutherford Police joined the pursuit as it continued into neighboring Rutherford Borough. The pursuit ended when the stolen SUV struck a guardrail on Ridge Road at Route 3. Police positioned their vehicles around the SUV in an attempt to apprehend the vehicle’s occupants, but the driver put the car in reverse, spinning the tires of the vehicle until the roadway was filled with smoke. The driver allegedly backed the SUV at the officers, ramming a police vehicle. Officers fired upon the driver of the SUV, striking him. The driver of the vehicle, identified as Kashad Ashford, 23, of Newark, was taken to Hackensack Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 a.m.
Inside the stolen SUV, police recovered a loaded .357-caliber Magnum handgun and a ski mask. The passenger in the SUV, Jemmaine T. Bynes, 30, of East Orange, was not shot and surrendered to police after the shooting. He has been charged with unlawful possession of a handgun, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, and receiving stolen property. Bynes and the driver allegedly were riding together in the SUV seeking to break into or steal other vehicles. Bynes was lodged in the Bergen County Jail with bail set at $100,000.
The incident remains under investigation by the Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team. Under an Attorney General Directive, the Shooting Response Team, made up of deputy attorneys general, detectives of the Division of Criminal Justice, and detectives of the State Police Major Crime Unit, are dispatched to the scene to handle investigations of shootings involving state troopers or officers employed by county prosecutors as detectives/investigators or members of county task forces. #### |
