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New Jersey Attorney General’s Office opens probe into fatal police-involved shooting in Pemberton

The shooting was one of two Friday in the 300-home, Sunbury Village section of the township.

Friends and relatives of Whitney Rivera hug as they gather on Kinsley Rd. in Pemberton on July 20, 2019. Rivera was fatally shot by police in front of his Kinsley Rd. Pemberton home on July 19, 2019.
Friends and relatives of Whitney Rivera hug as they gather on Kinsley Rd. in Pemberton on July 20, 2019. Rivera was fatally shot by police in front of his Kinsley Rd. Pemberton home on July 19, 2019.Read moreELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer

The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office is investigating a fatal police-involved shooting that occurred Friday night in a known high-crime area of Pemberton, Burlington County.

The incident happened after 9 p.m. in the 300-home Sunbury Village section of the township.

Police said when officers got to the scene, 41-year-old Witney Rivera was brandishing a long scythe during an altercation with another man near Rivera’s home on the 100 block of Kinsley Road.

During the encounter, a Pemberton officer shot Rivera. He was taken to Virtua Memorial Hospital in Mount Holly, where he was pronounced dead just before 10 p.m., police said.

The shooting is being investigated by the Attorney General’s Shooting Response Task Force, consistent with recently passed legislation. Senate Bill 1036, enacted in January, requires the Attorney General’s Office to investigate all fatal shootings involving police.

Around the same time Friday, also on Kinsley Road, police said a 20-year-old man was shot in the abdomen. Police did not say where on Kinsley the shooting occurred.

The victim, who was not identified, was taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton, where he was listed in stable condition.

Police have not said whether the two incidents were related. No arrests have been reported.