Robbery suspect with knife shot dead in confrontation with police in Leonia

• YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli identified the Leonia CVS robbery suspect shot dead by police after reportedly approaching them with a knife as 47-year-old Rickey L. McFadden of Grand Avenue in Leonia. READ MORE….

Three Palisades Park police officers and a Leonia officer confronted the 47-year-old suspect at the corner of Hillside and Kingsley avenues just after 4:30 p.m., following a holdup at the Broad Avenue CVS around the corner, a police official with knowledge of the incident told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

[TWO CORRECTIONS: Original story said two Palisades Park officers and 45-year-0ld suspect.]

The Leonia officer doused him with pepper spray, “but that wasn’t working,” the official told the website.

The suspect then “lunged at the officers with a knife and they opened fire,” he told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

The account was verified by a police official with another agency.

The suspect lay on his back in the crosswalk near the middle of Hillside Avenue, arms outstretched, after being struck.

Police said he went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead soon after.

“The matter is being investigated by the police shooting investigation team of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office under guidelines established by the state attorney general’s office,” Bergen Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said in a statement.

PHOTO ABOVE: Property of CLIFFVIEW PILOT

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