0
0
A bystander has been killed and three police officers injured in an ongoing standoff with a New Jersey sex offender who has barricaded himself inside a house.
Tyleeb Reese, 35, opened fire on US Marshals and sheriffs' officers when they came to arrest him for sexual assault at 6.20am on Wednesday at a home in Trenton, New Jersey.
He was previously jailed for sexual misconduct involving a minor.
Richard Powell Jr., a 56-year-old who lives one street away, was injured when the first shots were fired on Wednesday morning. He later died in hospital.
Three Mercer County officers have been injured during the standoff. It is not clear whether they were hurt on Wednesday morning or if they were struck at night when Reese opened fire again at around 11pm.
None suffered life-threatening injures and were released from hospital shortly after being admitted.
Shocking footage recorded by a neighbor showed the first gunfire in which Powell Jr. was hit.
He lay motionless on the street behind a car while police fired back at Reese before frantically dragging his body out of the crossfire when the bullets stopped.
SWAT teams dressed in riot gear remain at the scene with a negotiator who is trying to coax Reese out of the home.
Reese is wanted by officers from the US Marshals New Jersey regional fugitive task force went to the home to serve a warrant for a sexual assault arrest on Wednesday morning.
Authorities have not revealed how long he had been on the run from them for beforehand.
In 2010, he was jailed after admitting sexual misconduct with a child. Three years later, he returned to jail for just over a month for not registering as a sex offender, The Trentonian reports.
Details of his most recent alleged crime have not been released.
A police negotiator was heard pleading: 'Please Ty, come out' on Wednesday night as the standoff continued.
They sent a cell phone attached to a police robot inside the home to communicate with him earlier in the day.
The gunman asked for medical help to treat a leg injury after the second round of gunfire but was refused.
It is not clear who lives at the home where the standoff is playing out.
A middle-aged woman in a robe was escorted out of a property next door on Wednesday.
Other residents have been told to stay inside their homes.