What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?

Fatal Encounters records that William Z. Schickel died on September 22, 2014 in West Deptford, Gloucester 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 "U.S. Marshals Service, West Deptford Police Department, Deptford Township 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 West Deptford, Gloucester County, on September 22, 2014. The address as recorded is 1083 Buckingham Dr. West Deptford NJ 08086 Gloucester.

Does this record mean police caused or were at fault for this death?

No. Fatal Encounters documented deaths that occurred during police encounters of any kind, including vehicle pursuits and crashes, suicides that occurred in police presence, and medical emergencies. This record documents that a death occurred during an encounter; it is not a finding of fault, misconduct, or wrongdoing, and it has no connection to the discipline records elsewhere on this site.

Fatal Encounters record · Independent third-party dataset

William Z. Schickel

September 22, 2014 · West Deptford, Gloucester County

Details as recorded

Every value below is shown exactly as Fatal Encounters recorded it.^[1]

Name as recorded: William Z. Schickel
Age as recorded: 24
Gender as recorded: Male
Race as reported: Race unspecified
Date of the injury resulting in death: September 22, 2014
Location as recorded: West Deptford, Gloucester County1083 Buckingham Dr. West Deptford NJ 08086 Gloucester
Highest level of force as recorded: Gunshot

Agencies as recorded

Agency or agencies involved, as recorded: U.S. Marshals Service, West Deptford Police Department, Deptford Township 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)

U.S. Marshals Service (no matched department page)
West Deptford Police Department
Deptford Township Police Department

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.

Officers from the U.S. Marshals Service and Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office heard a gunshot outside of a West Deptford home where they planned on serving 24-year-old William Schickel with a parole violation. At the end of the ensuing 12-hour standoff--involving West Deptford Police, Gloucester County SWAT and a mobile Tactical Command Center from the Deptford Township police department, as well as other agencies from Harrison Township and Rowan University--officers discovered Schickel dead from an apparent suicide.

Source reported by Fatal Encounters: https://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/2014/09/west_deptford_standoff_suspect_fatally_shoots_self.html (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 record is one of the dataset's New Jersey entries from 2000 to 2021. Browse every New Jersey Fatal Encounters record by year.

Questions and answers

What does the Fatal Encounters dataset record about this incident?: Fatal Encounters records that William Z. Schickel died on September 22, 2014 in West Deptford, Gloucester 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 "U.S. Marshals Service, West Deptford Police Department, Deptford Township 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 West Deptford, Gloucester County, on September 22, 2014. The address as recorded is 1083 Buckingham Dr. West Deptford NJ 08086 Gloucester.
Does this record mean police caused or were at fault for this death?: No. Fatal Encounters documented deaths that occurred during police encounters of any kind, including vehicle pursuits and crashes, suicides that occurred in police presence, and medical emergencies. This record documents that a death occurred during an encounter; it is not a finding of fault, misconduct, or wrongdoing, and it has no connection to the discipline records elsewhere on this site.

Sources

[1]Fatal Encounters, New Jersey subset. Fatal Encounters (fatalencounters.org). Row 13223. Derived from the public Fatal Encounters national dataset (coverage 2000-2021; collection ended December 2021), https://fatalencounters.org/. Retrieved July 10, 2026. ↩