A New Jersey cop who fatally shot an Air Force veteran outside his home nearly two years ago was indicted for manslaughter this week, authorities said Wednesday.
Salvatore Oldrati, a police officer in South Jersey, allegedly shot and killed Charles Sharp III at about 1:40 a.m. on Sept. 14, 2021 in the small town of Mantua after Sharp called 911 on two burglars, according to the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
Sharp, 49, said he witnessed the burglars in his Elm Avenue yard — one of which “had a gun for sure,” he told dispatchers on a 911 recording released by the state.
Sharp explained that the thieves were trying to break into his shed and truck. He said he tried throwing firecrackers to scare them off, but it didn’t work.
But when Oldrati and another cop rolled up to the residence, Sharp was standing in his front yard with what was later found to be a replica .45-caliber pistol.
“He’s got a handgun on him, right there!” Cpl. Robert Layton yelled to Oldrati, according to body camera footage released by the attorney general.
Oldrati said nothing. Instead, he pulled his pistol and rattled off seven shots, then another six. Sharp fell, and later died at the hospital, prosecutors said.
The father-of-one was still on the phone with 911 when the bullets tore through him.
“He pointed the gun, I thought he was going to f—king shoot me, dude,” Oldrati said as he tried to help the dying man afterward, the footage showed.
A state grand jury indicted Oldrati on Tuesday for manslaughter, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement.
If convicted, he faces up to a decade in prison — and he wouldn’t be eligible for parole until he served 85% of his sentence.
“Mr. Sharp was shot multiple times outside his own home by one of the very officers he had called upon for help,” Platkin said in the statement.
“When residents call 9-1-1 for service, they are concerned, they need assistance, they seek protection — and they trust the officers responding to their calls will respond accordingly and help them,” Platkin continued.
“Tragically, that did not happen here.”
Oldrati’s attorney, Christopher St. John, did not return a request for comment Thursday.
Sharp served in the Air Force for more than 21 years, and was a “talented carpenter with many skills that could build anything,” his obituary said.
He also loved reading, camping, fishing and animals.
Thomas J. Eicher, director of the state Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, said that less than five seconds elapsed from when Oldrati stepped out of his cruiser to when he pulled the trigger.
Oldrati also allegedly didn’t give Sharp any verbal commands before he opened fire.
Investigators interviewed witnesses, collected forensic evidence and reviewed video footage and autopsy results after the killing, Platkin said.
