Woman suffering from mental health episode fatally shot by New Brunswick police
The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General says that police were responding to a report that Deborah Terrel was carrying a knife.
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Authorities say that a 68-year-old woman was suffering from a mental health episode when she was fatally shot by a New Brunswick police officer at a senior housing complex.
Deborah Terrell’s two sons are speaking out because they can’t understand why the officers who responded to her apartment within the Fricano Tower used deadly force.
The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General says that police were responding to a report that Terrel was carrying a knife and threatening other residents on the fourth floor of the Fricano Tower.
The attorney general’s investigation has revealed that officers engaged Terrel at her apartment and then tased and pepper-sprayed the woman before an officer shot her multiple times.
Her two sons, Jermaine Terrel and Rahaman McCalla, say she was 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighed 120 pounds.
They don’t believe deadly force was needed.
“There’s no, in my opinion, just reasoning for it,” said Jermaine Terrel.
“I feel like the officers should have waited a little longer and got the proper advocate there,” Rahaman McCalla added.
The family acknowledges Terrel had a history of mental health issues and recently had a change in medication.
Investigators with the state Attorney General’s Office will review the case and determine if the use of force was justified.
