Gunfire erupted as a police tactical squad executed a no-knock search warrant at 1154 Mackenzie Court in Lakewood, NJ, early this morning, leaving four officers and a suspect shot. One Lakewood police officer who was shot in the face and another who was shot in the foot were taken to a hospital, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Deputy Chief Michael Mohel said.According to sources close to the investigation, the officer shot in the face is Sgt. Jonathan Wilson. The sources said he was shot in the cheek, but was alert and his injuries are not life-threatening.
Two others sustained minor injuries when they were struck in their bulletproof vests. They were treated and released, Mohel said.
The suspect, Jamie Gonzalez, 39, was taken to a hospital with multiple gunshot wounds, Mohel said. He is in critical but stable condition, sources said.
The handgun the suspect allegedly used was retrieved, according to Mohel.
Police had planned to search the home in the town about 35 miles east of Trenton for narcotics and weapons, Mohel said. The investigation involved the State Police weapons trafficking squad, the ATF firearms task force, the prosecutor’s special operations group and the Lakewood street crimes unit.
There were other people in the house at the time, but no children, Mohel said.
The shooting comes more than two months after Jersey City police Det. Marc DiNardo was shot in the face storming an apartment where two armed robbery suspects were holed up. Four other officers were wounded in the gun battle and the suspects were killed.
DiNardo was taken off life support and pronounced dead one day before his 38th birthday.
In 2008, no police officer in New Jersey was feloniously killed in the line of duty, but 2,572 police officers were assaulted while doing their jobs, according to the state’s Uniform Crime Report.
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