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On March 3, 2023, Paterson police responded to an apartment building on Mill Street after a 911 call from Najee Seabrooks, 31, who was in distress. Family members told officers he was hallucinating, behaving erratically, and may have had a bad reaction to something he smoked. They said he had grabbed three knives and locked himself in a bathroom.

Officers spoke with Seabrooks through the bathroom door. He told them, "People are trying to kill me, I need an escort." Officers called for an ambulance, and later requested crisis negotiators and the Emergency Response Team after Seabrooks said he had knives and a gun he called a "pocket rocket."

Negotiators and family members tried to get him to come out. Seabrooks later broke a water pipe, officers breached part of the barricaded bathroom door, and officers saw knives in his hands. He started a fire in the bathroom and threw items at police. One officer was treated at a hospital for an eye injury from liquid, and another had an ankle-area injury from part of a toilet lid.

ERT members Hector Mendez, Qiao Lin, and Mario Vdovjak deployed less-lethal sponge-tipped projectiles, but Seabrooks did not drop the knives. Officers also saw him harming himself with the knives.

At about 12:35 p.m., Seabrooks exited the bathroom and approached officers with at least one knife in his hand. Officer Anzore Tsay and Officer Jose Hernandez fired their weapons. Seabrooks was taken to Saint Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, where he was pronounced deceased at 12:51 p.m.

A state grand jury later voted not to file criminal charges against Paterson Police Officers Anzore Tsay and Jose Hernandez.

Watch the video of this incident here.