ATTORNEY GENERAL’S SHOOTING RESPONSE TEAM CONTINUES INVESTIGATION OF FATAL POLICE-INVOLVED SHOOTING IN VINELAND

VINELAND, N.J. – The Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team (SRT) is continuing to investigate the fatal, police-involved shooting of a Cumberland County man at a Vineland auto rental business on October 18, 2018.

The shooter has been identified as Detective John Caccia of the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office, and the service weapon involved was a Glock 19 (9mm).

According to the preliminary investigation, on October 18, 2018, Detective Caccia and other detectives from the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office and Lower Township Police Department were conducting surveillance in the vicinity of Just Four Wheels Car, Truck and Van Rental at 2587 South Delsea Drive, Vineland, as part of an investigation of a violent crime that occurred in Cape May County earlier in October.  During the surveillance operation, Detective Caccia encountered Jacob Servais, 19, of Millville, N.J., who was driving a Nissan Altima and was known to the Detective as a possible suspect in the investigation.  During the encounter, Detective Caccia fired his service weapon three times, fatally wounding Mr. Servais. Officers from the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office and Vineland Police Department responded to the scene, and the investigation into Mr. Servais’s death was immediately turned over to the Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team.

The nature of any resistance and the use of any weapon on the part of Mr. Servais remain the subject of that ongoing investigation, and no further information will be released at this time.

In New Jersey, all investigations of police deadly force incidents are governed by the Attorney General’s Independent Prosecutor Directive, issued in 2006 and strengthened in 2015, which establishes strict procedures for conducting such investigations. It requires the Attorney General to review all deadly force investigations, and in some cases conduct them as well. In this case, the investigation is being conducted directly by the Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team. The directive further provides that unless the undisputed facts indicate the use of force was justified under the law, the circumstances of the incident must ultimately be presented to a grand jury, composed of 23 civilians, for its independent review.

The Independent Prosecutor Directive is posted on the Attorney General’s website at the following link: http://www.nj.gov/oag/dcj/agguide/directives/2006-5_SRT_OIS.pdf .

Further information about how officer-involved shootings are investigated in New Jersey under the directive is found at this link:
http://www.nj.gov/oag/independent-prosecutor/ .