A man who allegedly beat his girlfriend and abandoned her on the side of a New Jersey highway was shot by state police inside his home when he allegedly charged at a trooper who was trying to arrest him, authorities say.

State police had gone to the Brady Road home in Lake Hopatcong Sunday night after they came across a woman walking along the shoulder of Interstate 80, the New Jersey attorney general's office says. The woman told troopers she'd been assaulted by her boyfriend while they were driving on I-80, and that he made her get out of the car.

She had visible injuries on her face and body, authorities say.

Five troopers went to the boyfriend's home at about 11:30 p.m. to arrest him, and spotted him walking out onto a patio through a set of sliding doors at the back of the house, the attorney general's office said.

When the troopers identified themselves, the man retreated back into the house and locked the patio doors, according to authorities. Three of the troopers went around to the front to get into the lower-level home, and as they tried to arrest him in a narrow hallway, he allegedly charged "aggressively" at the trooper in the lead position.

That trooper fired two rounds from his service handgun, hitting the man once in the lower body, authorities said.

One neighbor, Dan Malloi, told News 4 he heard a noise Sunday night, like a sharp bang, and he thought someone set of fireworks, which typically happens around Lake Hopatcong close to the holiday. But he awoke to find state police swarming the scene.



The boyfriend, identified as 35-year-old Matthew Gerndt, was taken to Morristown Medical Center with a non-life threatening injury. Police sources say he had a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit.

None of the troopers was hurt.

Gerndy is charged with assault and resisting arrest, and is expected to be taken into police custody once he's released from the hospital.

The attorney general's office investigates all police-involved shootings in the state.