A state grand jury declined to pursue criminal charges against the Paterson police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Najee Seabrooks after a standoff in March 2023.

The 31-year-old Seabrooks was experiencing a mental health crisis when he called police to his apartment. Seabrooks had locked himself in his bathroom for hours, fearing someone was trying to harm him, according to an investigation by the attorney general’s office. Seabrooks’ mother, EMS and police urged him to come out, and crisis negotiators were called in after he set a fire in the bathroom that broke a pipe and threw objects, injuring two officers.

After a lengthy standoff, body camera footage showed Seabrooks holding a knife as he opened the bathroom door, prompting the officers to fire their weapons.

The shooting led to significant changes in the Paterson Police Department, including the state taking control of the force, and reforms to statewide crisis response policies. Earlier this month, Seabrooks’ family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Paterson, claiming police escalated the situation rather than de-escalating it.