James Allandale, 61, immediately opened fire on officers who found him at the Knights Inn Pinebook on Route 46 in Montville this past New Year's Eve.
He was shot and killed in the exchange of gunfire.
Allandale -- whose real name is James Allan -- became the target of an intense manhunt after he shot Cynthia Greco of New Milford at 113 Lincoln Avenue shortly before 5:30 p.m. Dec. 27, 2022.
The home is owned by Allandale's girlfriend, Lisa Dolack, who is friends with Greco, 63. They'd worked several years together at Hackensack University Medical Center.
Dolack apparently wasn’t aware of the extent of Allandale's criminal history when he moved in with in 2021. She'd recently been trying to get Allandale to move out, they said.
Records show he'd apparently changed his name from James Allan after serving time for kidnapping an ex-girlfriend at gunpoint in a supermarket parking lot in Wayne in 2000.
SEE: GF Of Ex-Con Fugitive Sought For Shooting Friend In Elmwood Park Seeks Public's Help
What role Greco might have played in any possible conflict between Dolack and Allandale wasn’t immediately clear. The women had worked together at HUMC and had been friends for some time.
A close friend said privately that Greco was "trying to protect" Dolack when she was shot three times in the head.
Allandale then fled in a white Dodge Ram pickup truck with a snow plow on the front, which responders said was found abandoned later that night along Route 20 in Paterson.
Greco ended up at a 7-Eleven on Broadway (Route 4) off the corner of Fairlawn Parkway in Fair Lawn, nearly two miles from the home. It wasn't immediately clear whether she or someone else had been driving.
She was rushed from there to Hackensack University Medical Center.
Authorities immediately obtained a fugitive warrant charging Allandale with attempted homicide and weapons offenses, among other counts.
Investigators on his trail said they had several addresses to work with. No sooner was a wanted poster shared online than leads began coming in -- some of them solid, they said.
All indications had pointed to Allandale wanting to "go out in a blaze of glory" -- not surrendering or trying to take his own life -- after becoming a fugitive from justice, a veteran law enforcement official told Daily Voice at the time.
It was shortly after 7 p.m. Dec. 31, 2022 when members of the Morris County Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team went to Allandale's hotel room, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. They tried unlocking the door, he said, but it didn’t work.
Protected by shields, they hit the door with a battering ram.
Allandale was down on one knee pointing a silver revolver at the door, police bodycam released by Platkin’s office this past February shows. He opened fire, leaving them no choice but to do the same.
Allandale was pronounced dead at the scene less than 10 minutes later.
MANHUNT ENDS: Fugitive Sought For Shooting Woman In Elmwood Park Killed In Gunfight With Police
Despite the circumstances, state law requires Platkin to review any and all civilian deaths involving encounters with police.
Recordings from body-worn cameras were released in February as part of the process. CLICK HERE to view the recordings.
A grand jury was convened following an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA). Evidence presented to the panel included witness interviews, photographs, review of body-worn camera footage, and autopsy results from the medical examiner, Platkin said.
The grand jurors, in turn, turned a “no bill,” essentially meaning the shooting by two SERT team members, Sgt. Fred Jackson of the Denville Police Department and Morristown Police Sgt. James Krauss, was by the book.
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