No charges due in shooting by officer
The Willingboro patrolman killed a man who had a knife outside a church last March.
No criminal charges will be filed against a police officer who shot and killed a man last year outside a Burlington County church.
Patrolman Jonathan Palmore, a nine-year member of the Willingboro Police Department, fired two rounds at Richard Arthur Dunn, 19, on March 11, 2006, after Dunn lunged at him with a large knife, authorities said.
An investigation determined that the use of deadly force fell within state guidelines, Burlington County Prosecutor Robert D. Bernardi said yesterday in a statement.
Police had been called to the Delaware Valley Baptist Church on Beverly-Rancocas Road after receiving a call reporting that a man with a knife had broken into the church. Dunn flashed the knife at people inside and then fled before police arrived.
Officers found Dunn outside the church and ordered him to drop the knife. Dunn refused and then lunged at Palmore, said Jack Smith, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office.
Shot twice, Dunn ran from the police and collapsed about 150 yards away. He was taken to Lourdes Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, Smith said. Palmore was put on administrative leave during the investigation.
At the time of the shooting, Dunn had been free on $25,000 bail following an arrest in Willingboro on aggravated assault and weapons charges.
Dunn's death was one of two police-related deaths in Willingboro, and one of five in Burlington County, during the span of a year.
Tyrone Awkward, 37, of Willingboro, died Nov. 6, 2005, after a confrontation with officers who were trying to take him to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. An investigation exonerated the officers and ruled that Awkward died of congestive heart failure.