The Atlantic City officer who fatally shot the man who wounded his partner in September was justified, a grand jury found Wednesday.
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Officer Josh Vadell was shot at about 2:30 a.m. Sept. 3, as he and his partner approached what appeared to be a robbery near the Caesars Atlantic City parking garage on Arkansas Avenue.
Details of the investigation were released by acting Atlantic County Prosecutor Diane Ruberton on Wednesday, when she announced the grand jury's decision.
Vadell was in the passenger seat of the marked patrol car with his partner driving when they saw a group of six men in the area of the Caesars parking garage and Ruby Tuesday's.
Vadell told his partner to turn down Arkansas Avenue to see what was going on. The other officer turned on his overhead lights and pulled in toward the males.
They saw a 17-year-old male standing in his boxer shorts with his pants around his legs and his fingers interlaced behind his head, according to the statement released by Ruberton. A gun was pointed at the victim's head.
"Yo, they're robbing us!" he yelled out.
As Vadell exited the vehicle, he reached for his gun, he heard the "pop" of a gun and fell to the ground. As the man ran, he continued firing at the other officer, who fired 16 rounds back before losing sight of the suspect, according to the report.
Both officers had body cameras but neither had time to activate them, Ruberton said.
The six men fled in different directions. Three were found to be victims.
The man who shot Vadell, Jerome Damon, was found dead about a block and a half away.
Two others, Martel Chisolm and Demetris Cross, are accused in the original crime and were arrested. Their charges include two counts of attempted murder for shooting at the officers.
https://breakingac.com/two-cumberland-county-men-charged-in-armed-robbery-shooting/
The three victims — two 17-year-olds and an 18-year-old — told investigators they had left the Tropicana when the three men came up and asking to buy marijuana. But the three teens just walked away, going through the Caesars parking garage to an alley behind Ruby Tuesday's.
There, the three men approached them again, this time pointing a black revolver at them and demanding all they had, according to the statement.
Two of them were forced to the ground, then up against a wall where the money was taken from their pockets.
Damon then turned to the 17-year-old, pointed the gun at his head and pulled down his pants to search for money. That is when the officers approached.
Also witnessing the events was someone sitting on a bench in front of Ruby Tuesday's and a private security guard patroling the Trump Plaza parking lot in a golf cart. He told police Damon forced him from the golf cart and drove it around the lot, but when he couldn't exit the lot, he abandoned the cart and ran. He was found by police lying near some bushes. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The revolver was found in the Trump Plaza lot. It had been loaded with six bullets, and four had been fired, Ruberton said.
The autopsy showed Damon was shot in the upper right back, which Ruberton said is consistent with the video footage that shows him turning back toward the unnamed officer with his right arm pointed as he was running away.
The charges against Chisolm and Cross are pending review before a different grand jury.
Vadell is home after being hospitalized for his injury. He is still going through difficult recovery, and was recently honored by the Coalition for a Safe Community.
