Victim’s friend: Cops fired first in wrong address shooting

A friend of a southern New Jersey man shot at his home over the weekend after a 911 call sent state troopers to the wrong address says a trooper fired at the 76-year-old first.

Gerald Sykes was in stable condition at a hospital in Camden with gunshot wounds.

Richard Kaser, a friend of the Sykes family, says he visited Sykes in the hospital and spoke to family members.

Kaser says Sykes saw someone approaching his back door and thought it was an intruder. After he retrieved his shotgun, one of the troopers fired several times and Sykes fired once.

The state attorney general’s office is investigating the shooting and declined comment Monday. On Saturday the office described it as “an exchange of gunfire.”