Note: Members of the press can email the Communications Office to obtain a link to download the recording.

Hillsborough, N.J. – The Attorney General’s Office today released video footage and audio from the mobile video recorder (MVR) in a police vehicle related to a fatal police-involved shooting that occurred on Sept. 28, 2021 in Hillsborough, N.J. The decedent has been identified as Patrick Chin, 43, of Hillsborough.

The fatal shooting remains under investigation by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA). The recordings are being released in response to an OPRA request and pursuant to policies established by the Attorney General’s Office in 2019 that are designed to promote the fair, impartial, and transparent investigation of fatal police encounters. Investigators previously met with Mr. Chin’s family to review the video recording.

According to the preliminary investigation, uniformed officers of the Hillsborough Township Police Department responded to Mr. Chin’s residence on Piedmont Path at approximately 4:10 p.m. on Sept. 28, 2021 in response to a request that the police check on the welfare of Mr. Chin. When the officers arrived, they encountered Mr. Chin inside the home, holding an approximately three-foot long sword. During the encounter, Officer George Kokinakous fired his service weapon, fatally wounding Mr. Chin. Officers and medical personnel rendered first aid to Mr. Chin, who was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased at 5:28 p.m.

The four other officers of the Hillsborough Township Police Department who were at the scene at the time of the shooting have been identified as Officer Robert Feriello, Officer Thomas Gurba, Officer Kyle Edmonds, and Officer Dylan Ely. Officer Feriello deployed OC spray at Mr. Chin during the incident.

The MVR recording is posted online: Click here for the recording.

There is no body camera footage or other video footage that captures the actual shooting.

The investigation is ongoing and no further information is being released at this time.

This investigation is being conducted pursuant to a state law enacted in January 2019 (P.L. 2019, c.1), which requires that the Attorney General’s Office conduct all investigations of a person’s death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody. Separately, the Independent Prosecutor Directive, which was issued in December 2019, outlines a 10-step process for conducting these investigations. The Directive establishes clear procedures governing such investigations to ensure that they are conducted in a full, impartial and transparent manner. Under both state law and the Directive, when the entire investigation is complete, the case will be presented to a grand jury, typically consisting of 16 to 23 citizens, to make the ultimate decision regarding whether criminal charges will be filed.

A copy of the Directive is available at this link:
https://www.nj.gov/oag/excellence/docs/2019-4_Independent_Prosecutor_Directive.pdf,

and a summary of that 10-step process is available at this link:
https://www.nj.gov/oag/excellence/docs/The-Independent-Prosecutor-Directive.pdf

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