Cops: Mentally ill N.J. man shot after rushing officers

The prowler who lurked in the shadows outside James Cline's home Thursday night was a manifestation of the mental illness that preyed upon his sanity for years, a family member said yesterday.

Cline, 37, called police in the tiny borough of Pine Hill, Camden County, on Thursday night to report that a prowler was outside his Cranford Drive home, authorities said. He then grabbed a kitchen knife, donned a Michael Myers mask from the slasher classic "Halloween," and slipped outside to wait for police.

Turns out, Cline was the prowler, and now he's fighting for his life with multiple gunshot wounds after, police said, he rushed responding officers.

"It's just a terrible tragedy," said a relative, who asked not to be identified. "I blame a lot of this on the mental-health system we have here in New Jersey."

No one answered the door at Cline's house when police knocked about 8:40 p.m. Thursday. When the officers walked around the side of the home, Cline appeared from behind the bushes in his mask, holding the knife as he ran toward the officers, authorities said.

Police said that they ordered Cline to drop the knife but that he continued and was struck multiple times when two of the four officers fired.

A source familiar with the incident said Cline was hospitalized last week after trying to stab himself multiple times. He was distraught, the source said, because his mother, Faye, took her own life on Sept. 1.

Cline was in critical condition at Cooper University Hospital in Camden.

Jason Laughlin, spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office, said police in Pine Hill were familiar with Cline "based on prior encounters." He said investigators were looking into the possibility that Cline had tried to provoke police into killing him.