Elderly man, 76, is in critical condition after being shot by state troopers in his own living room – before they realized they were at the WRONG address

July 31, 2016 in News by D

Gerald Sykes, 76, is in critical but stable condition after he was shot by cops in his own living room

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

A 76-year-old New Jersey man is in critical condition after state police responded to a 911 call to the wrong house  — and shot him as he stood in his own living room, authorities said.

Emergency dispatchers received a 911 call about 11:30pm Friday from a location in Cumberland County, but the caller hung up without giving a location.

The call appeared to have come from a house on Centerton Road and two uniformed state troopers responded. At the time, they didn’t realize the call hadn’t come from that address.

The troopers shined flashlights through a sliding glass door in the rear of the house and said they were responding to a 911 call.

But Gerald Sykes, 76, fired a single round from a shotgun through the door thinking they were intruders, according to a preliminary investigation.

One of the troopers fired four rounds from a handgun, hitting Sykes.

He was airlifted to Cooper University Hospital in Camden where he was reported in critical but stable condition, officials said.

One trooper suffered a graze wound either from the shotgun or from flying glass. Both troopers were treated and released from Inspira Medical Center in Vineland.

The attorney general’s office said Saturday it was discovered later that the 911 call hadn’t come from the address where the shooting later occurred.

It is common for police to follow up on hang-up calls to ensure nothing wrong has happened.

A family friend said Sykes grabbed his shotgun after his dogs began barking, signaling a possible intruder.

He ‘felt intruders were trying to get in and he was yelling to his wife to call 911,’  Rich Kaser toldNJ.com.

Sykes ‘thought there were bad people out there,’ the friend added.

He remains in critical bus stable condition and is expected to survive, authorities said.

Although preliminary investigations indicated Sykes fired first, his family said one of the troopers wass the first to shoot as Sykes stood in his living room, according to Kaser said

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