Matthew J. Platkin, Attorney General

Office of Public Integrity & Accountability

Drew Skinner, Executive Director

August 7, 2025

TRENTON — The Attorney General’s Office today identified the decedent who died in a fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred July 29, 2025, in the West Berlin section of Berlin Township, New Jersey. The civilian who was fatally wounded during the encounter has been identified as Shawn Phillips, 37, of West Berlin.

According to the preliminary investigation, two New Jersey State Police (NJSP) detectives assigned to the United States Marshals Service NY/NJ Regional Fugitive Task Force were conducting an investigation involving Mr. Phillips when they observed him leaving a house on Haddon Avenue, in the vicinity of Bate Avenue. During the encounter that followed, one of the detectives fired his service weapon, striking Mr. Phillips. Law enforcement recovered a revolver at the scene after the shooting. First aid was provided to Mr. Phillips before he was transported to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, where he was pronounced deceased at 2:13 p.m.

The investigation is ongoing and no further information is available at this time.

A 2019 law, N.J.S.A. 52:17B-107(a)(2), requires the Attorney General’s Office to conduct investigations of a person’s death that occurs during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody. It requires that all such investigations be presented to a grand jury to determine if the evidence supports the return of an indictment against the officer or officers involved.

Further information about how fatal police encounters are investigated in New Jersey under the Independent Prosecutor Directive can be found here: https://www.nj.gov/oag/dcj/agguide/directives/ag-Directive-2019-4.pdf