An incident in which a Middlesex County man was fatally shot by an off-duty police officer outside a Union Township bar overnight is under investigation, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Friday.
The deceased has been identified as 37-year-old Michael Gaffney of Piscataway.
An investigation into the incident began when Union Township police responding to Paddy’s Place, a bar on the 900 block of Rosemont Avenue, early Friday morning found the body of Gaffney, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
The preliminary investigation, which currently involves the Prosecutor’s Office’s Homicide Task Force and Special Prosecutions Unit, the Union County Sheriff’s Office Crime Scene Unit, the Union County Police Department Ballistics Unit, and the Union Township Police Department, determined that an altercation between Gaffney and an off-duty Newark Police Department officer led to the officer using his service weapon.
Witnesses inside the bar spoke of a violent physical confrontation between the two men that reportedly turned deadly.
**https://www.rlsmedia.com/article/man-shot-dead-outside-union-bar**
The officer was taken to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
The investigation into this matter, which remains ongoing, is being conducted in strict accordance with the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General guidelines governing all investigations into incidents involving use of deadly force by law enforcement.
Anyone with information about this matter is being urged to contact Prosecutor’s Office Detective Kalebota at 908-527-4567.