A shooting at a kosher market Tuesday in Jersey City, New Jersey, ended with a police officer, three civilians, and two suspects dead in what the city’s mayor called a targeted attack. The shooters were identified Wednesday as David Anderson and Francine Graham, and investigators are looking into a link between Anderson and the Black Hebrew Israelite hate group, according to The New York Times. Anderson’s involvement in the group is unclear at this time, and it is not connected to mainstream Judaism, the newspaper reported.
Security camera footage, as well as anti-Semitic and anti-police posts reportedly published online by one of the suspects, led authorities to conclude that the shooting was a targeted attack, The New York Times reported. Police also found a stolen U-Haul truck that Jersey City Police Chief Michael Kelly said “may contain an incendiary device” and that bomb squads were investigating, The Washington Post reported. “Based on our initial investigation (which is ongoing) we now believe the active shooters targeted the location they attacked,” Mayor Steven Fulop said on Twitter. “Due to an excess of caution the community may see additional police resources in the days/weeks ahead. We have no indication there are any further threats.”
The officer killed has been identified as Jersey City Police Det. Joseph Seals, a 15-year veteran of the department and a married father of five, Kelly said during a news conference Tuesday. Several people connected to Jersey City’s Jewish community identified two of the shooting victims as Mindel Ferencz, the 33-year-old wife of the market owner and Moshe Deutch, a 24-year-old Brooklyn rabbinical student, according to the New York Times.
Kelly also said two other officers were shot but have since been released from the hospital. Officers responded to the shooting soon after they were alerted at about 12:30 p.m., and they were faced with “high-powered rifle fire” at the market at Martin Luther King Drive and Bidwell Avenue, Kelly told reporters. The situation triggered lockdowns in hospital and school buildings in the area, Kelly confirmed, describing the neighborhood as “up and coming.”
Jersey City Public Safety Director James Shea added this would be a “horrific incident in any neighborhood anywhere in the world,” but Jersey City police were able to stave off further damage by responding “immediately.” “Most active shooters end when the police arrive,” Shea said. “In this case, one of our officers gave his life immediately trying to prevent what subsequently occurred. Then, two more officers were shot trying to prevent it.”
The mayor said in a series of tweets that the situation could have been worse. ”Had the 2 JCPD officers on the foot post one block south not responded immediately and had they not run TOWARDS the gun fire I’m 100% certain that this situation would have been far more tragic than what it already is,” he said. “There is enough info to know this could have been far worse.” Fulop noted this is the second active-shooter situation Jersey City police have had to deal with in about a year, the earlier shooting injuring two people at a mall in Newport. “For the last three years, we’ve invested a lot of resources unfortunately in active shooter situations,” he said.
While New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy applauded President Donald Trump for "swift response of the federal government" in the incident, he failed to address the public’s burning question regarding what the Trump administration is doing, other than tweeting, to prevent these attacks from repeating.
“Just received a briefing on the horrific shootout that took place in Jersey City, NJ. Our thoughts & prayers are w/ the victims & their families during this very difficult & tragic time,” Trump tweeted Tuesday. “We will continue to monitor the situation as we assist local & state officials on the ground.”
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who returned to his home state Tuesday in light of the tragedy, is calling for universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons and an end to “loopholes that allow people who should never have a gun to get one” in his gun control plan.
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The mayor also asked that the public refrain from jumping to conclusions. “Ppl have speculated that the actors were of the Muslim faith but at this point there is zero indication to that being accurate. I can speak to the large Muslim community in JC that is warm/inviting to everyone,” he said. “We are lucky to have that community in Jc and I don’t want anyone jumping to conclusions that aren’t accurate. I want to be sure the Muslim community knows we are thankful they are here in JC.”
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Fulop also offered words of encouragement to the Jewish community. “I’m Jewish and proud to live in a community like #JerseyCity that has always welcomed everyone. It is the home of #EllisIsland and has always been the golden door to America,” Fulop said. “Hate and anti-semitism have never had a place here in JC and will never have a place in our city.” Fulop said that while legally he can't release additional information about those involved in the shooting, the state attorney general's office and Hudson County Prosecutors Office are handling the investigation.
Neighbors told The New York Times that helicopters flew overhead and gunfire sounded in bursts for more than an hour in a standoff that felt like a war zone in a growing Jewish community. Rabbi David Niederman, the executive director and president of the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, asked the newspaper to imagine bullets hitting “the body of a 24-year-old child.” “How can we as a people, a community, bear that,” he asked.
