Troopers won’t be charged in mistaken 911 call shooting

TRENTON, N.J. – A state trooper was justified when he shot a 76-year-old man last summer inside a home mistakenly linked to a 911 call, an investigation by New Jersey’s attorney general has concluded.

Gerald Sykes thought he was defending his Upper Deerfield home from intruders late on July 29. In reality, he was confronting two troopers who went to the home when a disconnected 911 call was mistakenly traced to Sykes’ address.

The troopers told authorities they saw Sykes holding a revolver and shotgun when they went to his back door around 11:30 p.m., after knocking on the front door and getting no reply.

They said Sykes refused orders to drop the guns and instead pointed them toward the troopers before one fired four shots, striking him in the chest and upper groin. The second trooper suffered a graze wound when Sykes returned fire.

Sykes’ wife told investigators she believes her husband had his guns pointed down at the time the shooting started.

Gerald Sykes was released from a hospital about two weeks after the shooting.

The attorney general’s office report released Friday declined to refer the case to a grand jury “because the undisputed material facts showed that the use of force was justifiable under the law.”