Hannah Singletary filed a notice of tort claim alleging negligence by the department with regard to the fatal shooting of her 36-year-old son, Kevin Allen, The Record reported.
LYNDHURST -- The mother of a man who was fatally shot by Lyndhurst police officers at the township's public library this past May has filed notice that she plans to sue the police department, The Record reported.
Hannah Singletary filed a notice of tort claim alleging negligence by the department with regard to the fatal shooting of her 36-year-old son, Kevin Allen, the newspaper reported. A notice of tort claim isn't a lawsuit, but it puts a town on notice that someone intends to file suit.
According to the newspaper, Singletary says the officers fired about 12 or more gunshots into Allen's body. Authorities have not yet indicated how many times Allen was shot.
MORE: Man shot in Lyndhurst library allegedly threatened cops with knife
As previously reported by NJ Advance Media, Chief of Police James O'Connor has said Allen "menaced" police with the utility knife before they shot him around 1:30 p.m. on May 29 in the library's top floor. Allen was wanted by the Bergen County Sheriff's Office for failing to appear at a work release program and for contempt of court.
Officers first used non-lethal force on Allen, but he charged at police with the knife before they opened fire, O'Connor has said. Officials have not publicly identified the officers involved in that case.
"They exhausted all means, to include pepper spray and their baton," the chief said in an interview in May.
RELATED: Grand jury to review 2 deadly police shootings, prosecutor says
Last month, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said this police-involved shooting would be presented to a grand jury in light of a recently-modified state Attorney General's Office policy.
The state directive mandates that officer-involved shootings must go to a grand jury unless "the undisputed facts indicate that the use of force was justified under the law," according to the directive.
Molinelli previously said grand jury confidentiality prevented him from releasing more details on the cases.
Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.