Prosecutor: Suspect In Murder Of Woman, Son Shot By Police In Hackensack

HACKENSACK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A suspect in the murder of a Jersey City woman and her 4-year-old son was shot and wounded by police wounded Thursday evening in Hackensack, New Jersey.

Jose Ronald Santos-Alvarez, 26, had been wanted on two counts of first degree murder in the deaths of 27-year-old Monika M. Potoczniak and 4-year-old Christopher R. Potoczniak, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office said on Tuesday.

As CBS2's Valerie Castro reported, officials said detectives from Hudson County and Hackensack were investigating Thursday night, and came to a white duplex at 170 Clay St. in Hackensack.

They went inside and found Santos-Alvarez, prosecutors said. He was in the kitchen area toward the back of the duplex and had a knife, and officers shot him, Bergen County prosecutors said.

"They did apprehend him, but until that happened, the suspect presented himself with a knife. There were a lot of police officers in a very small kitchen area. One shot was fired to the abdomen area," Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said at a news conference.

About eight or nine officers responded to the scene, prosecutors said.

Santos-Alvarez allegedly had an eight or nine-inch knife at the time of the shooting, prosecutors said.

Reports about a second person being injured, or whether that person was an officer, were not immediately confirmed.

The suspect was taken to Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack where he was in surgery late Thursday, prosecutors said. He was wounded in the abdomen and his injury was non-life-threatening, prosecutors said.

Two women were also arrested at the scene, after they allegedly misled police to believe they were the only ones in the duplex and no one else was there, prosecutors said.

Potoczniak and her son were found unconscious in their home on Lincoln Street around 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 7. They were both taken to the hospital where they were pronounced dead a short time later, authorities said.

The deaths were ruled a homicide after prosecutors said the medical examiner determined that Monika Potoczniak was strangled and her son was suffocated.

Neighbors said the family had lived in the apartment for about a year. They said the deaths are sad and shocking.