Overview

• The 175-pound female black bear entered a Dollar General in Vernon Township on Sept. 16 around midafternoon and made contact with a 90-year-old woman, who was taken to a hospital with a reported minor leg injury described as a bite or scratch.
• Earlier that day, witnesses and police reported the bear moving erratically along Route 94 and through business parking lots, with accounts that it threatened people and got on top of a nearby business owner's dog.
• Patron Sean Clarkin filmed the bear inside the store and said he coaxed it to follow him outside, with the widely shared cellphone video shaping public attention to the incident.
• Police initially used rubber bullets to push the animal back into the woods and later euthanized it under New Jersey Fish and Wildlife response criteria for bears deemed a danger to public safety.
• Wildlife personnel collected the carcass for rabies testing, with results expected in approximately three to five days as officials continue to advise residents on safe bear-encounter practices.