Police: Man with knife shot by police in Orange, New Jersey

ORANGE, N.J. (WABC) -- A man in New Jersey was shot by police after he threatened an officer with a knife, authorities said.

Around 9 a.m., East Orange police responded to a 911 call about a man with a knife outside a Dunkin Donuts on Central Avenue.

The office said that around 9 a.m., East Orange police responded to reports of a middle-aged man brandishing a weapon at a doughnut shop. They told him to drop the knife and tried to subdue him when he refused, but the man got away and started walking off, the office said. He was confronted by police officers from Orange, who happened to be at a nearby park.

An officer used pepper spray on the man, who police say then lunged at another officer and made contact with her shoulder. She and a third officer then discharged their weapons, firing six shots in all. All three officers were in uniform, the prosecutor's office said.

Police said he then lunged at an officer who then fired a shot at him. A sergeant fired several shots, injuring the suspect. The man, who was not immediately identified, was hospitalized in critical condition, the Essex County prosecutor's office said in a news release.

Authorities did not yet know how many shots struck the man. The prosecutor's office said he appears to be in his late 50s; residents told authorities he lives in the area.

The two officers were injured in the confrontation in Orange, treated at a hospital and later released, but authorities said their names would not be released for "safety reasons."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.