'He's Going Ballistic': Body Camera Video Released In Piscataway Triple Murder, Fatal Police Shooting

PISCATAWAY, NJ — New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport on Wednesday released the 911 calls, police radio transmissions and police body-worn camera footage from Jan. 5, when a Piscataway Police officer shot and killed Jordan Barnes, 29, a Piscataway resident.

Piscataway Police Officer John Ward shot Barnes after officials say he stabbed his mother and grandparents to death inside their home on River Road, and then charged at officers who responded to the scene, while holding a knife.

This link has the 911 calls made that night, plus the body-camera footage from five police officers who responded. Warning: The video is violent, shows a man being shot, and may be difficult for some people to watch. Representatives of Barnes’ family were given an opportunity to see the recordings before the attorney general released them to the public.

Here is what AG Davenport says happened that evening:

At approximately 5:30 p.m. on January 5, the Piscataway Police Department received two 911 calls. In the first call, a woman can only be heard yelling “Stop! Stop!” in the background with other commotion and yelling. This 911 call came from the cellphone of Jeanmarie Barnes, 60, Barnes' mother.

The second 911 call came from another man, also a relative in the family. He was not named. He told police he had fled the home, and Barnes was threatening to stab people inside the home.

"Please, please," the man begs to the 911 operator, according to the 911 call. "He said he's going to kill us all, he's f— going ballistic. Please help!"

The man told the 911 operator he was standing outside in his socks. He said he did not want to go back to the house, because he was scared Barnes would chase him.

"He'll chase me, I don't know if he has a knife in his hands. He's running around, he's outside right now screaming," said the man.

"Has this ever happened before?" asked the 911 operator.

"No, he's never been violent. Never," replied the man.

Three minutes later, at 5:33 p.m., the first arriving Piscataway police officers arrived at the home and saw Barnes standing on the front porch. The officer briefly speaks with Barnes, who then picked up a knife on the ground, went inside the house and locked the front door.

The officer then spoke with a relative who had called 911 the second time, who was standing in the driveway. That relative told police there were three additional people inside the home with Barnes.

"He's going crazy," the relative said. "They're all in there."

While speaking to the relative, Barnes appeared in the second-story window, made a gesture to his neck, and yelled to the officers that they were not getting inside the house.

"You're not getting in this f— house!" Barnes shouted at officers, and then closed the window.

Multiple officers then assembled on the front porch of the home. As one officer attempted to speak with Barnes through the closed front door, others looked through the front door’s sidelight and observed two people lying unresponsive inside on the floor.

"We got people on the ground; we gotta make entry," one police officer is heard saying.

"We gotta make entry, we got victims," another officer said.

Officers then determined they would enter the home using a key provided by the relative.

The officers opened the front door and encountered Barnes holding a kitchen knife in his left hand. Officers commanded him to put the knife down and get on the ground. Barnes did not drop the knife or get on the ground. He advanced toward the officers. Three officers discharged their Taser-like devices at Barnes. Despite being hit with the electric shock, Barnes continued to walk toward the officers, holding the knife.

Ward then fired his service weapon, striking Barnes. Officers provided immediate medical aid and EMTs arriving minute later pronounced Barnes dead. Authorities recovered a large kitchen knife from the front porch, which Barnes had been holding, and a second broken knife from the immediate threshold of the entrance.

After the shooting, police found Barnes' mother, his grandfather, Richard A. Barnes, 86, and his grandmother, Brenda F. Barnes, 84, dead inside the home, all with multiple stab wounds. The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating their deaths.

Because he is dead, Barnes has never been charged with the three deaths. But Piscataway Mayor Brian Wahler previously told the media Barnes was responsible for killing his mother and grandparents.

The recordings are available to view here: https://njoag.box.com/s/pvikwnpqe829il9b4ufcacyf7sma8vqg

Representatives of Barnes’ family were given an opportunity to review the recordings prior to their public release.

New Jersey State PBA President Peter Andreyev described the crime scene that night as "horrific," and said all police officers who responded had to be evaluated by mental health professionals. A source with the Piscataway Police department told Patch they had been previously called to the home, but "very" rarely.

Who was Jordan Barnes?

Barnes graduated from Rutgers University with a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering, and he had professional experience working in data software, according to his LinkedIn profile.

At the time of his death, Barnes worked with his mother at TechniQuest Corporation, an engineering firm located in Princeton, NJ.com previously reported. His mother worked for years there as a senior accountant. Her son worked for TechniQuest for about a year and a half after he graduated from Rutgers.

A person close to the family described Barnes as a “highly intelligent” mechanical engineer.

While at Rutgers, he was a member of the Rutgers crew team, his profile says. This Instagram account shows a photo of him with the Rutgers crew team.

Prior on this: NJ Man Kills Mom, Grandparents Before Being Shot By Police: New Details Released (Jan. 7)