Farmingdale police shooting: 'Just kill me': Video shows man holding knife shot by cop

Joshua Chung , Ken Serrano | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Body Cam Footage of a Farmingdale Police-Involved Shooting WARNING: The video contains graphic footage including disturbing scenes and gunshots. This is body cam footage from a police-involved shooting in Farmingdale on Oct. 18, 2019.

WARNING: Video content is graphic and may be disturbing.

FARMINGDALE - The deadly confrontation between a Howell police officer and a knife-wielding borough man lasted 11 seconds.

In police body-camera footage released by the New Jersey Attorney General's Office on Friday, a Howell police officer arrives at the scene of 59 Walnut St. in Farmingdale late on Oct. 18. Dispatchers had received a call from the house from a "person claiming to be dying after being stabbed by his brother," police later said.

The unidentified officer bangs on the home's steel door with five sharp raps. His flashlight clicks on.

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Seconds later, a dog slides past suspect Charles Tsakiris Jr. as the 38-year-old Iraq War veteran lumbers out of the home wearing only white underpants. In the footage from the video, you can see the flash of what appears to be a knife in Tsakiris' right hand.

"Back up! Back up! Back up!" the officer yells as he points his firearm at Tsakiris.

Tsakiris hurls expletives at the officer as he advances down the front stoop.

"Back up! Back up!" the officer says as he continues to move backward.

"Why are cops here cause I killed somebody," Tsakiris mumbles as the screen goes dark.

The officer yells into his mobile radio: "Gunpoint!"

Tsakiris keeps coming.

"Back up! Back up! Back up!" the officer shouts again.

"Just kill me," Tsakiris says, continuing to come toward the officer. "Just kill me."

Five gunshots are heard on the recording.

As soon as he is hit, Tsakiris screams: "OK, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. OK."

Eleven seconds elapsed between the time Tsakiris emerged from the house and when the officer fired his handgun. Thirty-four seconds elapsed between the time the officer got out of his car and the shots were fired.

"Let me see your hands!" the officer screams. "Let me see your hands now."

"I'm trying," Tsakiris says as he screams.

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Other patrol officers arrive and a frantic effort to handcuff and save Tsakiris ensues. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

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The shooting of Tsakiris shattered the usually quiet borough of Farmingdale, where violence is rare. But there was more of it that night.

Teresa Oshel, 40, was found murdered in the bathroom of the home. Another person at the home, 36-year-old Jeffrey Tsakiris, was taken to the hospital and treated for injuries, according to a statement from state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal.

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Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for the attorney general, declined to comment on the status of the investigation into the shooting. Howell police also did not respond to a request for comment.

To see the body camera footage of the shooting in Farmingdale, scroll up.

But in a Facebook post a day after the shooting, Howell Police Chief Andrew Kudrick praised the officer's response.

"The officer (who fired) was forced to defend himself along with several other parties who were present," Kudrick said.

The action the officer took was "necessary and immediate" Kudrick said, ending a "deadly threat."

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Police were summoned to the Tsakiris home once before on a domestic violence complaint. On Feb. 9, 2018, Charles Tsakiris Jr. was charged with two simple assault charges and a disorderly persons offense.

He was accused of punching Oshel on the left side of the face, leaving her with bruising, and punching Jeffrey Tsakiris in the mouth, cutting the inside of his lower lip, according to court records.

Charles Tsakiris Jr. pleaded guilty to the charges two weeks later and paid $928 in fines, penalties and court costs after his guilty plea.

An obituary for Charles Tsakiris said he was a lifelong resident of Farmingdale who completed a tour of duty with the Marines during the Iraq War.

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Chief Kudrick has said the officers involved in the shooting would placed in an "administrative capacity," as is the case with any officer-involved shooting.

Ken Serrano has been covering breaking news and crime in New Jersey for more than 20 years. Reach him at 732-643-4029 or at kserrano@gannettnj.com.

Joshua Chung is a breaking news reporter. A lifelong Jersey Shore resident, he is a recent graduate of Michigan State University. Contact him at jchung@gannettnj.com, 732-870-7985, or on Twitter @Joshchunggg