Prosecutor: Armed Robber Shot, Killed by Police in Leonia

A knife-wielding assailant was shot and killed by three police officers after he robbed a CVS pharmacy in Leonia Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

In a statement issued late Sunday, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli identified the alleged robber as 47-year-old Leonia resident Rickey L. McFadden. Police were called to the Broad Avenue pharmacy around 4:30 p.m. after McFadden pulled a “large knife” and stole cash along with other goods, the prosecutor said.

Three Palisades Park police officers and one Leonia officer “engaged” McFadden, who was carrying the knife and had fled on foot northbound along Broad Avenue, then down Hillside Avenue, according to Molinelli. About two blocks from the store three of the four officers opened fire on McFadden at Hillside Avenue and Kingsley Street.

He was later pronounced dead at Hackensack University Medical Center. The police officers were not injured, but three were taken to Englewood Hospital and Medical Center for observation.

“Recovered at the scene was the knife believed to have been used in the robbery, a mace can believed to have been used by one of the officers, and the items taken from the CVS store, as well as numerous other items which cannot be disclosed at this time,” Molinelli said. 

The three officers had retained attorneys and prosecutor’s office detectives were expected to question them, Molinelli said. Investigations also had “numerous” witnesses to the robbery and events that followed.

One witness, who declined to be identified, told Patch an officer had first tried to subdue McFadden with pepper-spray before the gunfire erupted.