Cop, Others Killed in New Jersey Standoff

Gunfire was heard for an hour in Jersey City
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 10, 2019 2:00 PM CST
Updated Dec 10, 2019 3:29 PM CST
New Jersey Governor: Officers Shot in Standoff
Police officers work nearby the scene following reports of gunfire, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, in Jersey City, N.J.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A police officer and multiple others were killed in a shooting in Jersey City, NJ, Tuesday that authorities say is not believed to have been a terrorist attack, the AP reports. One officer was pronounced dead at a hospital and multiple other people were found dead at the scene, Mayor Steven Fulop said without indicating how many were killed. A second officer was struck in the shoulder by gunfire, and two others were injured by shrapnel, Fulop said. The nearby Sacred Heart School was put on lockdown, but all staff and students were safe, according to a statement from the Archdiocese of Newark. Sporadic, heavy gunfire rang out over the course of at least an hour along a major thoroughfare but has quieted down. SWAT teams, state police, and federal agents responded to the scene, and police blocked off the area, which, in addition to the school, has some stores, a kosher supermarket, and a hair stylist.

Loud volleys of gunfire could be heard at regular intervals but subsided around 2pm in the city, which is just across the Hudson River from Manhattan and is New Jersey's second-largest city after Newark. Dozens of bystanders pressed against the police barrier to film the action on cellphones, some whooping when gunfire bursts filled the air. Per NJ.com, the shooters are described as a man and woman dressed in black who arrived at the kosher supermarket in a U-Haul van, entered it carrying long guns, and started firing at police or anyone else "who came into their line of vision." The news site says the bodies of the other victims killed were found inside the store. Fulop won't say whether the suspects were among the dead, but NBC New York's sources say the dead include the police officer, both suspects, and three civilians who were killed inside the store. The sources also say the incident began as a homicide investigation; the officer who was killed had approached the suspects in that investigation and they allegedly fled into the supermarket after shooting him.

(More New Jersey stories.)

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