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Charles Frederick Sharp III

Age : 49

Gender : Male

Race : White

Date : 09/14/2021

Location : 200 block of Elm Avenue

City : Mantua Township

County : Gloucester

State : New Jersey

Agency : Mantua Township Police Department

Officer(s) :Salvatore Oldrati

Cause of Death : Gunshot

Event : Killed by police after calling 911 for help

OPEN RECORDS SUMMARY :

On 09/14/2021, Mantua Township Police Officer Salvatore Oldrati shot and killed 49-year-old Charles Sharp III outside Sharp's own home in the 200 block of Elm Avenue. Sharp was the person who had called 911 seeking police assistance after reporting people trespassing on his property, including a person he believed was armed. The New Jersey Attorney General's Office later concluded that less than five seconds elapsed between Oldrati getting out of his patrol vehicle and beginning to shoot Sharp. A state grand jury subsequently indicted Oldrati for manslaughter.
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At approximately 1:35 a.m., Sharp called 911 and reported that several people were trespassing on his property. He described people attempting to enter his shed and vehicle and told the dispatcher that one of the alleged trespassers had a handgun. Sharp remained on the telephone with the police dispatcher as Mantua officers arrived.
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Two uniformed Mantua Township officers responded: Cpl. Robert Layton and Salvatore Oldrati. Layton arrived first, followed shortly afterward by Oldrati in a separate police vehicle. Sharp was standing outside his home and was still connected to the 911 dispatcher.
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Sharp possessed what initially appeared to be a handgun but was subsequently determined to be a detailed replica of a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun. The distinction became central to the subsequent investigation. Sharp had also discussed the replica handgun during his 911 conversation.
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As Oldrati arrived and got out of his patrol vehicle, Layton alerted him that Sharp had a handgun. According to the Attorney General's reconstruction, Layton began giving Sharp commands to drop the weapon.
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Oldrati did not give Sharp a verbal command or warning before firing. The Attorney General's Office determined that less than five seconds passed between Oldrati stepping out of his police vehicle and beginning to shoot Sharp.
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Oldrati fired multiple rounds, striking Sharp while Sharp was still on the telephone with the 911 dispatcher. Sharp was transported to Jefferson Washington Township Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 2:49 a.m.
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Layton did not shoot Sharp. Oldrati was the officer responsible for the fatal gunfire.
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The Attorney General's Office released Sharp's 911 call and police body-camera footage on 10/06/2021. The recordings provided direct evidence of the extremely short period between Oldrati's arrival and his use of deadly force and preserved Sharp's conversation with dispatch immediately before police killed him.
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The shooting was not investigated solely by the Mantua Township Police Department. Under New Jersey law governing deaths during encounters with law enforcement, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office investigated through its Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, with assistance from the New Jersey State Police.
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The investigation eventually produced a result substantially different from the preliminary police justification for the shooting. After completion of the investigation, the Attorney General's Office presented the evidence to a state grand jury.
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On 05/23/2023, the grand jury indicted Oldrati on one count of manslaughter. The Attorney General announced the indictment the following day. The grand jury determined that Oldrati's conduct was not justified and warranted criminal prosecution.
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Attorney General Matthew Platkin emphasized that Sharp had been killed by one of the officers he himself summoned for protection. OPIA Executive Director Thomas Eicher specifically cited two circumstances underlying the prosecution: less than five seconds elapsed between Oldrati exiting his vehicle and beginning to fire, and Oldrati gave Sharp no verbal commands or warnings before shooting him.
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The manslaughter indictment is particularly significant for the database because it converts what early reporting described primarily through the police account into a fatal shooting in which the state's independent investigative authority subsequently determined there was sufficient evidence to criminally prosecute the shooting officer.
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Sharp's family also pursued civil litigation. A lawsuit filed on behalf of Sharp's child named Oldrati, Mantua Township and the police department and alleged that Oldrati had a documented propensity to prematurely draw his service weapon and react excessively with his firearm before he killed Sharp. Those allegations are civil claims and should not be treated as established findings.
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The lawsuit alleged that fellow officers had previously observed Oldrati prematurely drawing his firearm and using it in an over-reactive manner and that the department knew about that behavior. It further alleged that only hours before Sharp's killing, Oldrati threatened over police radio to shoot a barking dog and a supervisor intervened, directing him not to shoot the animal and to wait for the supervisor.
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The civil complaint also alleged that Sharp never raised or pointed the replica handgun before Oldrati shot him. The criminal case did not depend merely on that civil allegation: the New Jersey Attorney General's own investigation independently concluded that Oldrati fired without giving Sharp any verbal command or warning and that the entire interval between his emergence from the patrol vehicle and the beginning of his gunfire was under five seconds.
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OFFICER BACKGROUND
Salvatore Oldrati was identified as the Mantua Township police officer who shot and killed Charles Sharp III. Cpl. Robert Layton was also present but did not fire his weapon.
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Oldrati was subsequently indicted by a New Jersey state grand jury for manslaughter in Sharp's death. The charge carries potential imprisonment of five to ten years under New Jersey law, with a conviction subject to the state's No Early Release Act requirement.
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The subsequent civil litigation contains additional allegations directly pertinent to Oldrati's use of deadly force in this case. Sharp's family alleged that before the killing, other Mantua officers had observed Oldrati prematurely drawing his firearm and using it in an over-reactive manner and that the police department was aware of that behavior.
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The lawsuit further alleged that only hours before killing Sharp, Oldrati threatened to shoot a barking dog while responding to another incident. According to the complaint, a supervisor instructed Oldrati not to shoot the dog and directed him to take no further action until the supervisor arrived. These allegations have not been established as criminal findings, but they are directly relevant because they allege prior firearm behavior known within the department immediately before Oldrati fatally shot Sharp.
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Oldrati also became a defendant in separate litigation concerning a Mantua police incident that occurred just two days before Sharp's death. In that case, Brandon Becker alleged that he returned home on 09/12/2021 and encountered Mantua Police Lt. Shaun Butler in a compromising situation with Becker's wife. The subsequent lawsuit alleged that when Mantua police responded, Oldrati pointed his service weapon at Becker and Becker was handcuffed and detained in a patrol vehicle for approximately 30 to 45 minutes before being released.
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That lawsuit went considerably beyond allegations against Oldrati. It accused members of the Mantua Township Police Department of altering or falsifying records to protect Butler and alleged that Police Chief Darren White pressured officers to change the original report in a manner that would prevent public access to information concerning the incident. Those are civil allegations rather than adjudicated findings, but the timing is extraordinary: the underlying incident occurred two days before Oldrati killed Sharp.
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The allegations therefore create substantive agency context rather than unrelated departmental history. Within a period of approximately 48 hours before Sharp's death, Oldrati was allegedly involved in another encounter in which he pointed his service weapon at a civilian who was ultimately released, while the department was subsequently accused of manipulating records concerning that incident.
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Sharp's killing itself provides the strongest documented accountability finding. Unlike many police shooting cases in which later review simply resulted in no charges, New Jersey's independent state investigation resulted in the shooting officer being criminally indicted. The state grand jury specifically rejected justification for Oldrati's conduct and returned the manslaughter charge.
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The department's actions after the shooting are also noteworthy. Oldrati was permitted to return to police work following the shooting and was subsequently promoted to corporal in 2022, before the state grand jury indicted him in 2023.
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As of this update, the most consequential established disposition remains the state grand jury's manslaughter indictment. The independent state investigation, released 911 call and body-camera evidence, criminal indictment, civil allegations concerning Oldrati's prior firearm behavior, and separate allegations of serious misconduct within the Mantua Township Police Department make this a substantially more significant case than the original September 2021 reporting indicated.

SOURCE LINKS :

https://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/2021/09/mantua-man-killed-by-police-in-early-morning-shooting.html
https://www.inquirer.com/news/mantua-police-shooting-new-jersey-911-response-20210915.html
https://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/2021/09/15/police-shooting-mantua-charles-sharp-911/8377089002/
https://www.njoag.gov/ags-office-releases-911-call-and-video-from-body-worn-camera-related-to-fatal-police-involved-shooting-in-mantua-on-september-14/
https://www.njoag.gov/update-grand-jury-indicts-mantua-police-officer-on-manslaughter-charge-in-september-2021-fatal-shooting-of-homeowner/
https://www.inquirer.com/crime/mantua-township-new-jersey-police-officer-indicted-grand-jury-20230524.html
https://patch.com/new-jersey/gloucestertownship/nj-cop-indicted-killing-previously-drew-gun-prematurely-lawsuit
https://www.yahoo.com/news/suit-claims-mantua-police-doctored-085618661.html