A man who barricaded himself in a Panera restaurant in Princeton, New Jersey, was shot and killed by police after a five-hour standoff.
Everyone who could flee ran, while police and sheriff’s deputies began arriving outside.
Police tried to negotiate with the armed man for five hours but could not convince him to surrender.
At some point, the decision was made to end the standoff, and an officer shot the gunman through one of the restaurant windows. No one else was injured.
The restaurant is across the street from Princeton University. Two university buildings were also evacuated at the time of the incident.
The university is on spring break, so fortunately there were not many students in the area.
According to court records, BucksLocalNews reported that Mielentz had applied for social security disability in 2014 while still working a job and was investigated for unemployment fraud.
Mielentz owed the social security administration $30,000 for benefits received under false pretenses.
Records show Mielaentz filed for bankruptcy in 2016 and in December 2017, he settled with the government. Under the terms of the settlement, he had to repay $25,000 of the money that he had obtained fraudulently in $100-per-month instalments.
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