Princeton Township man survives stab wounds from attacker.
By: David Campbell
Princeton Township police shot and killed a 24-year-old Teaneck man early Thursday morning after he gained entry to the nearby home of a prominent Princeton family and attacked the homeowner with a kitchen knife.
William Sword Jr., 51, of 1036 The Great Road West suffered numerous stab wounds and was airlifted to Capital Health System Fuld Campus, where he was reported in good condition Thursday afternoon.
Jelani Manigault, a University of Maryland senior taking part in a religious retreat with his parents at Tenacre Foundation, the Christian Science training and retreat center on The Great Road, was fatally shot outside Mr. Sword’s residence after police discharged three rounds with their weapons, Mercer County Prosecutor Daniel Giaquinto said at a press conference Thursday at Princeton Township Hall.
Mr. Manigault’s girlfriend and his parents were staying at Tenacre with him, police said.
Based on a preliminary investigation, police described the scene early Thursday morning as follows:
At around 1:30 a.m., Mr. Manigault, dressed only in a T-shirt, running pants and socks, left the Tenacre campus in his parents’ Honda Accord without their consent. While traveling north on The Great Road West, the car struck a tree and crashed into a truck parked at a residence across the street from Mr. Sword’s residence.
Martha Sword, the victim’s wife, was awakened by the sound of the doorbell and the family dog barking. She opened a window and called out to inquire who was at the door, but received no answer.
Determining that the ringing was coming from the kitchen door in the back of the house, Ms. Sword went to a kitchen window, where she heard groans coming from outside, leading her to assume that someone was injured there.
Ms. Sword woke up her husband, and the couple went downstairs. Mr. Sword turned on the outside light and saw Mr. Manigault, who was unknown to him, on the porch. He inquired if the young man needed assistance and invited him into the house, whereupon Mr. Manigault pushed past Mr. Sword and began to meander about the kitchen.
The 24-year-old was acting strangely and was talking to himself. At this point, Ms. Sword called the police and woke her brother, Robert Sullivan of Long Island, N.Y., who was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom.
Ms. Sword then heard her husband yell from the kitchen, "He’s got a knife!"
Mr. Sullivan rushed to the kitchen to find Mr. Sword bleeding and wrestling with Mr. Manigault, who had picked up a 12-inch kitchen knife. Mr. Sullivan joined the struggle, temporarily stunning the attacker by striking him with a frying pan.
Mr. Sullivan attempted to assist the injured Mr. Sword, but was distracted when Mr. Manigault got up and started wandering toward the part of the house where children were sleeping.
Mr. Sullivan struggled again with Mr. Manigault, who then returned to the kitchen, retrieved the kitchen knife and began cutting his wrists, saying, "Kill me." He then dropped the knife and wandered outside.
Mr. Sullivan closed the kitchen door behind the attacker and, believing the door was locked, returned to administer aid to Mr. Sword.
But the door was not locked and Mr. Manigault re-entered the house, retrieved the kitchen knife and resumed cutting his wrists. He then left the house carrying the knife.
Three police patrols arrived and ordered Mr. Manigault to drop the knife, but police said he ignored their command and advanced on them with the weapon in an aggressive manner.
The four responding officers were Sgt. Judd Petrone and Patrolmen Harry Martinez, Fred Williams and Christopher King.
As Mr. Manigault advanced, Patrolman King tripped and fell. With the attacker less than 10 feet away from the officer, Mr. Manigault was within what police called the "zone of danger."
Patrolman King fired at Mr. Manigault, as did Patrolman Martinez. Preliminary investigation revealed that the officers fired three shots with their 9-mm Beretta handguns.
Mr. Manigault was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr. Giaquinto called the incident a tragedy for both the Sword and Manigault families, and traumatic for the officers involved. As for Mr. Sullivan, he said, "To his brother-in-law and to his family, he was certainly a hero in this matter."
Princeton Township Police Chief Anthony Gaylord said the weapons were fired intentionally and not as a result of the officer falling.
"He was coming at the officers and refused to heed their commands," Chief Gaylord said, adding that the officers were "shaken by this event." A crisis-counseling team was called in for the officers following the shooting, the chief said.
Officials would not go into detail about how many times Mr. Sword was stabbed, but Mr. Giaquinto said he was stabbed "numerous times."
Preliminary investigation suggests the shooting was justified, but because it was a police shooting, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office will make a final determination pending inquiry by the prosecutor’s office, State Police and Princeton Township Police, Mr. Giaquinto said.
If such a determination cannot be made, the matter would go before a grand jury, the county prosecutor said.
Mr. Giaquinto would not elaborate on the mental state of Mr. Manigault, but said it was a "possibility" he advanced on police with the knife in order to make them shoot him.
Autopsy results on Mr. Manigault are pending, said township Police Capt. Peter Savalli.
Neither Tenacre nor Mr. Manigault’s parents would comment Thursday on the tragedy, said Tenacre President Cynthia Love.
Born in Princeton, Mr. Sword graduated from Princeton University in 1976 and went into the family firm, Wm. Sword & Co. Inc., an investment banking firm on Chambers Street.
In 1981, he became the firm’s managing director. Among the firm’s clients are Merck & Co., Nestle, ABC, DuPont and Ingersoll-Rand.
Mr. Sword has three children and is a Little League coach.
"He’s just a wonderful, decent human being," said family spokesman Peter McDonough, his brother-in-law.
On Thursday morning, the Sword property, as well as the driveway where the Manigault family’s Honda struck the neighbor’s truck, were cordoned off with yellow police tape. The neighbor’s mailbox had been destroyed in the auto collision, and the Honda rested at an angle with its wheels off the ground where it struck the side of the truck.
John Dilluvio, the neighbor whose mailbox and truck were hit, said he heard the crash and subsequently saw emergency lights and heard a helicopter overhead.

