Police-Involved Shooting Leaves Elderly NJ Man Critically Wounded

UPPER DEERFIELD, N.J. (CBS) -- Off a country road, down a long driveway, a South Jersey mas was almost killed by state police in what some are calling a big misunderstanding.

Authorities say that around 11:30 p.m. on Friday, troopers from the Bridgeton Barracks were set out to do a wellness check in Upper Deerfield after someone called 9-1-1 and hung up.

They believed the call came from a home on the 300 block of Centerdon Road. Authorities say when the two troopers knocked on the door, no one answered. They went around back.

As they shone their flashlights in the read sliding glass door, gunfire broke out between one of the troopers and the homeowner, who had a shotgun.

One officer was grazed by broken glass, or shotgun spray. The homeowner, 76-year-old Gerald Sykes, suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was flown to Cooper Hospital in critical condition.

"I think it's very sad and I think it's a mistake," said Joan Bacon. Neighbors like Bacon say they didn't hear the gunshots and believe Sykes got spooked by people at his back door. Something she says could happen anywhere in this rural part of Cumberland County.

"Absolutely it could happen anywhere and I've had the cops come to the door here at night when they've had calls down the way, but I always yell through the door 'who's there,'" she said.

Sykes' family, who were advised by their attorney not to give any interviews, told Eyewitness News that the elderly man did not hear the officers identify themselves. Investigators say the troopers did try to communicate who they were and why they were there.

Sykes' family added that he suffered multiple deep chest wounds, but that he is doing better and is alert.