Andrew Ford, and Erik Larsen

Asbury Park Press

TOMS RIVER - A 56-year-old man believed to be in need of mental health services was shot and killed during a "physical altercation" with police in an apartment building Tuesday afternoon, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said.

About 12:30 p.m., two members of the department were following up on a prior report of a person "believed to be in need of professional mental health intervention services," in an apartment on Edgewood Court in the Silver Ridge complex according to a statement from prosecutor's spokesman Al Della Fave.

After they made contact with the unidentified 56-year-old man, the "physical altercation" took place. The statement did not further describe what occurred or say whether the man was armed.

"That altercation lead to the discharge of a service weapon(s)," Della Fave wrote in the statement.

The 56-year-old was pronounced dead.

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The Ocean County Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of his death.

"At this time the investigation and scene processing are the priority," Della Fave wrote. "When all the facts and circumstances surrounding the event are definitively confirmed a full account will be issued to the press by our office."

The Toms River Police Department referred an Asbury Park Press reporter's questions to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.

One building in the apartment complex was surrounded by yellow police tape as Toms River police officers and Ocean County Sheriff's investigators worked at the scene. Police blocked Edgewood Drive near River Terrace in the apartment complex off Lakehurst Road, just a short distance west of the Garden State Parkway near Exit 81.

"It's pretty crazy," said Billy Thompson, 26, who lives in a building adjacent to the scene of the shooting. He didn't hear or see any of the incident.

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"All my neighbors keep pretty quiet," Thompson said. "Pretty crazy to see someone was involved in a shooting."

"Pretty surprising,"Terry Wells, 53, said of the shooting. "It's usually pretty quiet down here."

Wells lives in an apartment in a building near the scene of the shooting. He also didn't hear or see any of the incident and he also described the area as quiet.

"It's just families basically."

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Andrew Ford: 732-643-4281; aford3@gannettnj.com. Erik Larsen: 732-682-9359 or elarsen@gannettnj.com. Staff writer Katie Park contributed to this report.