The two attackers who shot six people in New Jersey are believed to have been members of an anti-Semitic group.
A shooting in New Jersey near New York that left six dead could have had an anti-Semitic background. Attackers are said to have shot first a police officer and later several people in a Jewish shop on Tuesday. Prosecutor Grewal did not want to confirm on Wednesday that the obviously targeted attack on the Jewish business was actually an anti-Semitic act. “We conduct additional investigations before we draw any conclusions about the motivations and ideology (of the suspects).”
Several US media reported, however, that the investigators bring the alleged perpetrators in connection with the group of the partially anti-Semitic “Black Hebrews”. Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop also wrote on Twitter that the “shooters on social media have shown a positive attitude towards anti-Semitic groups”.
Before the attack on the Jewish business, the two suspects allegedly killed another man, an Uber driver, in the city of Bayonne. The crime scene is just a few miles west of New York and is separated from Manhattan by the Hudson River.
Police prevented attackers from further harm
The suspects, a man and a woman, reportedly first shot a police officer in a Jersey City cemetery on Tuesday who was alleged to have investigated the murder of the Uber driver. Surveillance camera footage shows them stopping their van a short time later in front of the nearby Jewish shop. According to the authorities, they immediately opened fire and deliberately went to the grocery store.
Two patrol officers subsequently prevented the two alleged perpetrators from leaving the store and possibly attacking other civilians. A heavy firefight ensued, and a large number of police moved in. After the end of the exchange of fire, the bodies of the two alleged perpetrators and three dead civilians were found in the store. The police assume that the bystanders were shot by the suspects.
Pipe bomb found in transporter
Prosecutor Grewal praised the officers at the scene. Without their efforts, many more people could have died. In addition, Mayor Fulop confirmed that there was a ready-to-use pipe bomb in the transporter. This shows the will of the suspects to harm many more people.
“Jersey City has never had a place for hatred and anti-Semitism, and there will never be a place for it,” said Fulop. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his condolences to the families of the victims on behalf of the people of Israel. US President Donald Trump described the shooting on Tuesday as “terrible” on Twitter.
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