The Jersey City Shooting Perpetrators Targeted A Kosher Supermarket

On Tuesday (December 10), gun violence in Jersey City, New Jersey, left at least three civilians and one policeman dead, according to NPR. One of the two suspects had previously published anti-police and anti-Semitic posts, which investigators believe could have motivated the attack, the New York Times reported.


Jersey City Mayor Stetven Fulop mentioned at a news conference on Wednesday (December 11) that the perpetrators, who were also killed on the scene, specifically targeted a kosher retail food store, which carries foods that align with nutritional rules observed by some Jewish people.


“At the time of the incident yesterday, it was tough to understand intent, and there's still a lot of questions around that,” Fulop mentioned, according to NPR. “But immediately after reviewing the cameras on the Jersey City side, we do feel comfortable that it was a targeted attack on the Jewish kosher deli across the street here.”


Two police officers who'd been walking patrol near the store speedily responded to the gunshots right following the perpetrators started their attack. Both officers were shot and injured, and three bystanders and both suspects were killed while in the shootout. As of publish time, none of the three victims have been publicly identified.


“From what we can tell on the CCTV cameras, had they not responded — and had they not been there in that location — more than likely more people would have died,” Fulop mentioned, according to NPR. “The reason that those perpetrators seemed to be indoors of that deli, and not able to move potentially to the school or to inflict more harm, was as the police responded immediately and returned fire.”


Detective Joe Seals was also shot and killed before the attack occurred; he had approached the two suspects’ van near a cemetery, NPR announced. Per the Times, he was a father of five and 15-year law enforcement veteran.


While local officials called the attack “targeted” on the kosher deli, they haven’t qualified it as an anti-Semitic attack yet.


“I didn't use the words ‘anti-Semitic,’” James Shea, the public safety director in Jersey City told a reporter, according to NPR. “The motives are still segment of the investigation. They exited the van, and so they proceeded to attack this location in a targeted manner. Anything else is open for investigation.”


In response, several of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates called for stricter gun control measures in the U.S.


This shooting comes just each year soon after a gunman killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Since then, anti-Semitic homicides have been increasing, according to the FBI’s annual statistics. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the U.S. Has been experience a nearly record-high collection of anti-Semitic incidents within the past few years, NBC News reported. In the opening six months of 2019, there were nearly 800 cases of anti-Semitism, including vandalism and arson. 2017 was the worst year for anti-Semitic acts in three decades; there were nearly 2,000 announced cases of assaults, vandalism, and threats that specifically targeted Jewish people and events like the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.