Dash-cams capture parts of failed negotiations with Princeton Panera gunman
TRENTON » Panera Bread gunman Scott Mieletenz knew he would be killed during an hourslong standoff with police last month when he barricaded himself inside the restaurant wielding what turned out to be a BB pistol.
“I’m gonna die,” a distressed Mielentz is heard yelling at officers.
Stretches of the tense five-hour-long standoff were captured by Princeton Police officers’ dash-camera audio released by the state Attorney General to The Trentonian through a public records request.
Princeton cops are equipped with external microphones hooked up to dash cams that allowed officers to capture Mielentz’s dramatic interactions with cops and negotiators who tried to get him to surrender before state police troopers William Kerstetter and Joseph Trogani fatally shot him in the head and torso with M4 rifles around 2:54 p.m. inside the Nassau Street restaurant across from Princeton University.
A negotiator is heard asking Mielentz if he believed in a higher power, quoting scripture to try to calm him down and even plying him with cigarettes.
“We must pass through enormous suffering before we find hope,” the negotiator said at one point, emphasizing he was there to “help you get the help that you need.”
“I don’t doubt for a second you’ve been through a lot,” the negotiator said. “I can tell by the tone of your voice. … I’m committed to helping you 110 percent. I care about you.”
The audio provided an incomplete account of the negotiations during the standoff since parts of conversations with Mielentz cut out or are drowned out by radio chatter. The videos released to The Trentonian ended around 11:24 a.m., leaving more than two hours of negotiations unaccounted for including the moments before Mielentz was killed.
In the audio obtained and reviewed by The Trentonian, Mielentz, a former IT worker who was battling mental health problems that caused him to fall deeply into debt, is faintly