Off-duty State Trooper shot at teens in Sparta

The state Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team is investigating a confrontation between an off-duty State Trooper who fired his gun at three teens he suspected were trying to break into his Sparta home early Sunday morning

No one was injured during the incident, and no charges have been filed, according to a release issued Wednesday by Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman.

The incident, according to Hoffman’s release, occurred at the home of the trooper on Whispering Woods Lane in Sparta sometime between 1:30 and 2 a.m. A preliminary investigation indicated that the trooper and his wife woke to the sound of the three young men knocking and making noise at their front door.

The trooper went downstairs to investigate and after a verbal exchange through the door, the teens fled. Suspecting they had been trying to enter his home, he identified himself as a trooper and pursued them on foot.

The trooper said the teens got into a car and drove away, turned around at a cul de sac and drove back toward the trooper’s house. At that time, the trooper stated, he entered the street in an attempt to stop the vehicle. When they did not stop, he fired three rounds from a personal handgun.

One round struck a front wheel of the vehicle, disabling it, and the teens stopped the vehicle a short distance away, according to the report. One of the three men called his mother and then 911 to report the shooting.

The names of the trooper and the three young men were not released.

Jesse Barkhorn, 18, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he was in the car that night and that the teens were looking for a friend’s house but knocked on the wrong door. He said they heard a man screaming from inside and they ran back to the car.

They turned around in the cul-de-sac where the home is located and saw the man standing with his weapon pointed at them, Barkhorn said.

“At this point we’re freaking out, ‘It’s a gun. It’s a gun,’” Barkhorn said. “I was like ‘Dude, get out of here.’”

He said the driver accelerated and the man then fired at them. One of the bullets struck the car’s front tire and the driver stopped the car a short distance away.

Barkhorn told the AP that after they stopped the car, one of them fled. He was found by officers hours later.

Barkhorn said all three were taken to the Sparta Police Department headquarters and then to the state police barracks in Netcong. He said he remained in custody for more than nine hours before being released without being charged.

“It was traumatic. I really have never been in a situation like that,” Barkhorn said. “You don’t really appreciate things until you have a gun pointed at your head. It was really scary.”

The Shooting Response Team, comprised of deputy attorneys general, detectives of the Division of Criminal Justice and detectives of the State Police Major Crime Unit, is dispatched to investigate shootings involving state or county law enforcement officers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-428-6627; wwesthoven@dailyrecord.