Jersey City Shooting Was 'A Targeted Attack On The Jewish Kosher Deli'

The shooting that left at least five civilians and one police officer dead Tuesday in Jersey City, N.J., was a targeted attack, according to local authorities. At a news conference Wednesday, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop explained that the pair of shooters had clearly singled out the kosher market on which they opened fire.

"At the time of the incident yesterday, it was difficult to understand intent, and there's still a lot of questions around that. But after reviewing the [closed-circuit TV] 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," Fulop told reporters during a snowstorm Wednesday, gesturing at a storefront crowded with emergency personnel.

"We could see the van moving through Jersey City streets slowly. The perpetrator stopped in front of there, calmly opened the door with two long rifles — him and the other perpetrator — and began firing from the street into the facility."

The mayor applauded the quick response of two nearby police officers, who had been walking patrol one block away when they heard the gunshots.

"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 said. "The reason that those perpetrators seemed to be inside of that deli, and not able to move potentially to the school or to inflict more harm, was because the police responded immediately and returned fire."

Both officers sustained gunshot wounds in the shootout, according to James Shea, the public safety director in Jersey City, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

As it was, six people — including one other police officer, Detective Joseph Seals, 40 — died in the ensuing melee. That death toll also includes three bystanders and the two suspects, all five found dead inside the store.

Authorities have not yet officially released the names of the other victims or the suspects, noting that those details were part of an ongoing investigation.

Local officials said Tuesday they had as yet gleaned no discernible links with terrorism, and they were also careful Wednesday, despite calling it a targeted attack on a kosher deli, not to describe it specifically as an anti-Semitic attack.

"I didn't use the words 'anti-Semitic.' The motives are still part of the investigation," Shea told a reporter. "They exited the van, and they proceeded to attack this location in a targeted manner. Anything else is open for investigation."

Bill de Blasio, mayor of neighboring New York City, has demonstrated no such reluctance to assign a motive. In a series of tweets overnight, the mayor said the shooting "tragically confirms that a growing pattern of violent anti-Semitism has now turned into a crisis for our nation."

Though there was "no credible threat," he said he had directed the New York Police Department to "assume a state of high alert" and protect "key locations in the Jewish community."

"History teaches us how dangerous it is to ignore this kind of hateful pattern. We must stop anti-Semitism aggressively and decisively, and I call upon all New Yorkers to join in rooting out this threat."

The attack in Jersey City comes just over 13 months since a gunmen killed 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. The suspected attacker was charged last year in a 44-count indictment, which alleges that during the massacre, he ranted about his desire to "kill Jews."

Due to largely to the attack, anti-Semitic homicides reached the highest level ever recorded in the FBI's annual statistics on hate crimes, released last month. [Copyright 2019 NPR]