UPDATE:

CLARK -- Police shot a machete-wielding attacker near Cellar Avenue and the man is now in custody, according to Clark Mayor Sal Bonaccorso.

A witness said the shots were fired after the man chased after several people on Cellar Avenue.

The mayor confirmed that account and said no officers were injured in the apprehension.

Sal Burkhardt said his father Glenn "heard a blood-curdling scream" from a woman near their condo on Cellar Avenue.

Glenn Burkhardt, 61, and two friends, George Peterpaul, 57, and Walter Kewko, 48, ran to the woman who appeared to be having an argument with the man, his son said.

As they approached, they realized the man had a two-foot-long machete when he swung it, nearly hitting Kewko in the face, Sal Burkhardt said.

The attacker then chased Glenn Burkhardt until he was able to convince a passing driver to let him into the vehicle, his son said.

Burkhardt said the woman was apparently being threatened by a bearded man with a Mohawk-style haircut and a "machete."

Burkhardt said he and the other men managed to chase off the man with the knife. Burkhardt remained with the woman when the man with the knife returned and tried to attack him, Burkhardt said.

Sal Burkhardt, Glenn Burkhardt's son, said police then arrived and the man charged at one of the officers, who fired at the him, striking and subduing him. He said the attacker was alive and conscious when he was put into an ambulance.

A resident who lives near Lake Avenue and Stonehenge Drive was grilling hamburgers when he said he heard shots around 7:30 p.m.

"I heard someone yelling in the back and it seemed like shots," said Ed Monagle, who lives less than a block from where several police cars had gathered.

Monagle said he also heard what sounded like an argument.

A woman who declined to give her name was another among several witnesses who also heard loud arguing immediately prior to hearing at least one gunshot. A number of witnesses also heard a woman yell "help" two or three times before the gunfire.

"I saw the guy running back and forth [on Lake] and the cop try to stop him," the woman said, adding that the last thing she witnessed before hearing gunfire was the man with a knife approach a police officer.

"Clark police once again used their training correctly and my hat goes off to them," said Bonaccorso. The mayor said the suspect was taken to University Hospital* in Newark.

Lake Avenue is closed from Oak Ridge Road into Scotch Plains "due to a police investigation," Clark police said in a Nixle alert.

*Correction -- An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the hospital.

Paul Milo may be reached at pmilo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@PaulMilo2.



Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRemoNJ.

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