Six dead, including a cop and 2 suspects, in New Jersey shooting

[webfact]

Six dead, including a cop and 2 suspects, in New Jersey shooting

By Maria Caspani

 

Police officers use vehicles for protection during a shootout in Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. December 10, 2019 in this still image obtained from a social media video. @GABRIELANGELVALLE /via REUTERS

 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Six people, including a police officer and two suspected gunmen, were killed in an hours-long shootout that unfolded on Tuesday afternoon near a cemetery and a kosher grocery store in Jersey City, New Jersey, police said.

 

The two suspects killed acted alone, Jersey City Police Chief Michael Kelly told a news conference hours later in the state's second-largest city, which sits directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

 

The two gunmen and three civilian victims were pronounced dead inside the JC Kosher Supermarket. The slain police detective was fatally wounded near a cemetery about a mile away where the shooting apparently started when he tried to intercept one of the suspects, Kelly said

 

There was no immediate evidence the bloodshed was a hate crime or terror-related, he told reporters.

 

Kelly said he believed the civilians and the detective were all struck by gunfire from the suspects, who arrived in a stolen U-Haul truck and held police at bay around the store for hours before the shooting ended.

 

"Their movement was rapid and continuous for four hours within that area," the chief said at an evening news conference. He described the crime scene as "very extensive," encompassing at least three locations. Hundreds of rounds were fired, he said.

 

The Mayor of Jersey City Steven Fulop said on Tuesday that one police officer was fatally shot and multiple people were found deceased inside of a building as an active shooter situation was underway.

 

Kelly said investigators believed the U-Haul vehicle contained what may have been an "incendiary device," which he said was removed and taken away for examination by police bomb squad personnel.

 

Two more police officers and a civilian were wounded but were reported in stable condition, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office posted on Twitter. Police said the two wounded officers were later released from the hospital.

 

The officer who died was identified as Joe Seals, a married father of five who had been with the Jersey City force since 2006, Mayor Steven Fulop told reporters.

 

The suspects fled the area of the cemetery in a truck and eventually ended up at the kosher supermarket, where they opened fire on police officers and civilians, the New York Times reported, citing officials. Investigators believe the store was chosen randomly, according to the newspaper.

 

The standoff prompted a massive law enforcement deployment with local SWAT teams and federal agents rushing to the scene, as well as emergency services from the neighbouring New York City Police Department.

 

All schools in Jersey City were placed on lockdown, which was lifted later in the afternoon, according to the mayor and local media.

"Oh my god, it's like a movie. It's crazy. ... Nothing I've ever seen before. I'm still shaking," an unidentified resident of the area told NBC's New York affiliate.

 

Kelly said the incident occurred in an "up and coming" neighbourhood of Jersey City, a racially mixed town of about 265,000 residents.

 

"This neighbourhood has had challenges. It has become a much safer, much better neighbourhood over the last two years, three years or so," the police chief said. "We can only say folks that live in the neighbourhood support the police department. They were out there today showing support.”

 

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter: "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.

 

"We will continue to monitor the situation as we assist local & state officials on the ground," Trump wrote.

 

(Reporting by Maria Caspani in New York; Additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Culver City, Calif.; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-12-11

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[justin case]

land of the free

[Saint Nick]

Waking up, checking the news, noticing another deadly shooting in the USA...so no news....

[Ketyo]

"thoughts & prayers" don't help

[jany123]

11 hours ago, webfact said:

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter: "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.

Standard template.... just insert location and press send... mass murder dealt with... carry on banking those NRA cheques ????

[metisdead]

Some off topic posts and replies have been removed. 

[Bluespunk]

12 hours ago, webfact said:

The suspects fled the area of the cemetery in a truck and eventually ended up at the kosher supermarket, where they opened fire on police officers and civilians, the New York Times reported, citing officials. Investigators believe the store was chosen randomly, according to the newspaper.

BBC now reporting that the supermarket was targeted deliberately, calling it an anti-semitic attack.

 

Also mention that the officer murdered was part of a unit tasked with removing illegal guns from the streets.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50737537

[impulse]

It should be noted that New Jersey has some of the strictest gun control laws in the USA. 

 

Yet the bad guys always seem to come up with guns...

 

[Bluespunk]

4 hours ago, impulse said:

It should be noted that New Jersey has some of the strictest gun control laws in the USA. 

 

Yet the bad guys always seem to come up with guns...

 

Could not Agee more, obviously much stricter laws are required and should be applied nationwide. 

[sirineou]

4 hours ago, impulse said:

It should be noted that New Jersey has some of the strictest gun control laws in the USA. 

 

Yet the bad guys always seem to come up with guns...

 

I don't understand it either, how do they bring them in through those heavily guarded borders?

[mogandave]

6 hours ago, sirineou said:

I don't understand it either, how do they bring them in through those heavily guarded borders?

We need to have tighter restrictions on pipe bombs as well. 

[Baerboxer]

On 12/11/2019 at 2:32 PM, justin case said:

land of the free

 

Home of the brave!

[impulse]

13 hours ago, sirineou said:

18 hours ago, impulse said:

It should be noted that New Jersey has some of the strictest gun control laws in the USA. 

 

Yet the bad guys always seem to come up with guns...

I don't understand it either, how do they bring them in through those heavily guarded borders?

 

The point is that Pandora's box is already open.  300 million guns aren't going away, even if they banned them outright and went door to door collecting them.  Millions and millions of them will just be re-distributed into the hands of those who don't follow the rules.  The bad guys.

 

[sirineou]

Just now, impulse said:

 

The point is that Pandora's box is already open.  300 million guns aren't going away, even if they banned them outright and went door to door collecting them.  Millions and millions of them will just be re-distributed into the hands of those who don't follow the rules.  The bad guys.

 

NRA talking points . 

Having a national strategy rather than a state by state strategy and tightening up the loopholes will go a long way towards preventing some of the people that should not have guns from getting them. 

 

[impulse]

15 minutes ago, sirineou said:

NRA talking points . 

Having a national strategy rather than a state by state strategy and tightening up the loopholes will go a long way towards preventing some of the people that should not have guns from getting them. 

 

I'm not a big fan of the NRA for that very reason.  They refuse to compromise on sensible actions under the theory of "give 'em an inch..."   Which I understand.   I just don't agree. 

 

Most of us, even gun owners, would like to see exactly what you're suggesting.  The question then becomes which state's policies to standardize on?   The ones clearly in violation of the 2nd amendment?

 

And don't forget, tragic and newsworthy (click worthy?) as they are, I have less than 1 in a million chance of being the victim of a mass shooting next year.  And don't get me started on the statistics of a middle class guy with a decent job and living in suburbia and not dealing drugs becoming the victim of a gun crime.  It's tiny according to the FBI.  I worry more about getting the wrong treatment from a doctor.  Those statistics are scary.