Haddon Township police officers repeatedly ordered a man to drop a weapon during a fatal confrontation in a senior center’s stairwell, according to a video released by the Attorney General’s Office.
Keith Edelin, 46, of Pennsauken was shot as he advanced down a stairway toward Officer Luke Falkenberg at approximately 1:10 a.m. on Nov. 3, 2024, the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement.
The gunfire ended an almost-two-minute standoff between Edelin and police at the Rohrer Towers on the 300 block of West Crystal Lake Avenue.
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Multiple officers had gone to the senior complex after a resident called 911 to report a “strange man” had briefly opened the door to her upper-floor apartment.
“I don’t usually keep it locked,” the woman told the 911 dispatcher, according to a recording of the call. “Nobody’s ever around here.”
She described a man matching Edelin’s appearance to the dispatcher; police treated the incident as a burglary in process.
Officers arrived to find blood in the building’s lobby, in an elevator, and on the carpet of a residential hallway, the Sept. 26 statement said.
Body-cam video shows Haddon Township police officer Luke Falkenberg preparing to enter a stairwell at the Rohrer Towers complex in November 2024. Falkenberg shot Keith Edelin, a Pennsauken man allegedly armed with a knife, inside the stairwell.
Authorities have provided no information about any injury Edelin may have sustained prior to the officers’ arrival.
A body-cam video showed officers gesturing in silence as they moved cautiously down an empty hallway, passing doors decorated by elderly residents.
At least two officers entered a stairwell and saw Edelin, allegedly armed with a knife, on stairs above them.
Both directed Edelin to drop his weapon and also told him they were there to help him.
“C’mon brother, what’s going on?” Falkenberg asked at one point. “You’re hurt. Let us help you.”
The video shows Falkenberg firing four shots as Edelin approaches him.
“Officers rendered medical aid until emergency medical personnel arrived,” the statement said. Edelin was pronounced dead approximately one hour later at a hospital.
“A knife was recovered at the scene,” the statement said. “The officers did not sustain any injuries during the encounter.”
A state law requires an investigation into any death that involves a police officer acting in an official capacity.
“The investigation is ongoing and no further information will be released at this time,” the statement said.
Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: Jwalsh@cpsj.com.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Body-cam video details deadly incident at Westmont senior center