Fatal Encounters record · Independent third-party dataset
Scott Mielentz
March 20, 2018 · Princeton, Mercer County
Details as recorded
Every value below is shown exactly as Fatal Encounters recorded it.[1]
- Name as recorded
- Scott Mielentz
- Age as recorded
- 56
- Gender as recorded
- Male
- Race as reported
- European-American/White
- Date of the injury resulting in death
- March 20, 2018
- Location as recorded
- Princeton, Mercer County136 Nassau St Princeton NJ 08542 Mercer
- Highest level of force as recorded
- Gunshot
Where the dataset places it
The marked point is the dataset's own geocoded location for this record, as recorded. Every other New Jersey record in the dataset is shown in gray. A point on a map is where a death was recorded, not a finding about anyone.
Agencies as recorded
Agency or agencies involved, as recorded: Princeton Police Department, Mercer County Sheriff's Office, West Windsor Police Department
An agency appears here because it appears in the record's as-reported agency field, nothing more. Its presence is not a claim of fault or responsibility.
Department pages (matched by this site at high confidence)
The source's account
Fatal Encounters' description of the incident, verbatim. This is the source project's own third-party narrative, not this site's reporting.
An armed Scott Mielentz stormed into the Panera on Nassau Street after 10 a.m. as customers and employees fled through the back of the building. Police negotiators allegedly tried to get Mielentz to give himself up peacefully for several hours until around 3 p.m. when police shot and killed him, as he brandished a pellet gun.
Source reported by Fatal Encounters: https://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/crime/2018/11/09/fatal-police-involved-shooting-princeton-panera-bread-doj/1944204002/ (external link, as recorded in the dataset).
If you are a family member of the person named here, or represent one, and something in this record is wrong, or you want the record removed, requests go through the corrections page. Every request is checked against the source record.
This is one of 29 New Jersey records the dataset dates to 2018, and one of 32 it holds for Mercer County across 2000 to 2021. Browse every New Jersey Fatal Encounters record by year.
Records from the same county and year
- Tahaji Wells (2018) June 17, 2018
Questions and answers
What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?
Fatal Encounters records that Scott Mielentz died on March 20, 2018 in Princeton, Mercer County, with "Gunshot" as the highest level of force. Fatal Encounters is an independent, crowdsourced dataset of deaths that occurred during police encounters of any kind; a record is not a finding of fault or misconduct.
Which agency or agencies were recorded as involved?
The record's agency field reads "Princeton Police Department, Mercer County Sheriff's Office, West Windsor Police Department". Presence in that field means the agency appears in the record as reported, nothing more; it is not a claim of fault or responsibility by any officer or agency.
Where did this happen?
The record places the death in Princeton, Mercer County, on March 20, 2018. The address as recorded is 136 Nassau St Princeton NJ 08542 Mercer.
Sources
- [1]Fatal Encounters, New Jersey subset. Fatal Encounters (fatalencounters.org). Row 7371. Derived from the public Fatal Encounters national dataset (coverage 2000-2021; collection ended December 2021), https://fatalencounters.org/. Retrieved July 10, 2026. ↩