New video footage shows fatally shot Panera gunman was armed with BB pistol

The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office has released surveillance videos showing that the late Scott Mielentz, who was killed by state police officers at the Panera Bread at 136 Nassau St. on March 20, was armed with a black Crosman PFM BB Pistol.

Computer-Aided Dispatch reports released with the video show that at 10:28 a.m. on March 20, the Princeton Police Department received a call from a man reporting “there’s a guy with a gun at Panera.”

The pistol in Mielentz’s hand was later determined to have actually been a BB pistol.

The video, which was published in Planet Princeton, shows state police officers engaged in a standoff with Mielentz from behind Panera’s trash and recycle depositories. Troopers were armed with M4 rifles, according to Planet Princeton. The standoff lasted five hours.

The video shows that at approximately 2:54 p.m., two members of the New Jersey State Police Technical Emergency and Mission Specialists Unit fired at Mielentz, striking him in the head and torso.

The video also shows that immediately before state police fired, Mielentz raised his BB gun towards them.

The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office is investigating the use of deadly force by police.