Suspects in Jersey City shooting targeted kosher supermarket: 'It began with an attack on civilians' - USA TODAY

Anthony Zurita and John Bacon USA TODAY

Published 10:02 AM EST Dec 11, 2019

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The deadly shooting that left a police officer and five others dead here targeted a kosher supermarket and could have been far more deadly had officers on patrol nearby not quickly intervened, city officials said Wednesday.

"We now know this did not begin with gunfire between police officers," city Public Safety Director James Shea said. "It began with an attack on civilians in the store."

Shea, speaking at a news conference, said surveillance video showed two suspects pull up in front of the bodega in a stolen van, slowly exit the van armed with long guns, and "immediately begin firing."

Shea, noting that the bodega is surrounded by schools and other stores, said the officers "heroically placed themselves in the line of fire."

"Both of them received gunshot wounds as a result," Shea said. Officers Ray Sanchez and Mariela Fernandez were treated at a hospital and released, authorities said.

Bodega shooting: What we know about suspects and victims

Shea and Mayor Steven Fulop declined to characterize the attack as an anti-Semitic hate crime. Fulop, in a tweet earlier, did say that anti-Semitism had no place in the city.

"I’m Jewish and proud to live in a community like #JerseyCity that has always welcomed everyone," Fuolp tweeted early Wednesday. "It is the home of #EllisIsland and has always been the golden door to America. Hate and anti-semitism have never had a place here in JC and will never have a place in our city."

Still unclear is the connection between the bodega shooting and an earlier shootout at a cemetery in another part of the city. Police said Tuesday night that the suspects killed Officer Joseph Seals in the cemetery in another section of the city of 270,000 people before driving the van to the bodega.

Shea did not address that information Wednesday. Jersey City Police Chief Michael Kelly said Tuesday the officer was trying to stop some “bad guys” near a cemetery.

Seals, a married father of five, was part of a department tasked to get guns off of the city's streets. Seals was on duty and in plainclothes Tuesday when he was shot by at least one of the suspects at Bayview Cemetery.

The suspects then drove a stolen rental van to another part of the city and engaged police in the lengthy shootout from inside the kosher market. The shootout lasted two hours before police killed the suspects at about 2:30 p.m. The two suspects, who were not identified, and three other people were found dead inside the store.

Jersey City shooting: Police officer killed was a 15-year veteran and father of five

The bystanders were struck by rounds thought to have been fired by the suspects, police said. The store is in a section of the city that has become home to about 100 Orthodox Jewish families.

The front end of the supermarket was destroyed, with much of the store front in ruins. Bullet holes could be seen on the walls and windows of Sacred Heart School that face the market.

Community residents were rattled by the violence.

“I just think that everyone wants to leave,” said Khalis Harris, 37, on Wednesday, who has lived in the neighborhood his whole life. “If it’s not yesterday’s shooting it’ll be another one."