Jersey City’s mayor says gunmen targeted kosher market

The mayor of a New Jersey city says it’s “clear” that gunmen targeted a kosher market during a furious shooting that killed six people and raised questions about whether anti-Semitism was involved.

A police officer, three bystanders and two suspects all died in the violence Tuesday afternoon in Jersey City, just across the Hudson River from New York City. The 40-year-old slain officer, Detective Joseph Seals, who led the department in the number of illegal guns removed from the streets in recent years, was cut down by gunfire that erupted near a cemetery. The gunmen then drove a stolen rental van to another part of the city and engaged police in a lengthy shootout from inside the kosher market, where the five other bodies were later found.

Mayor Steven Fulop says in a tweet Wednesday that a review of security camera footage shows the gunmen targeted the market.

“Last night after extensive review of our CCTV system it has now become clear from the cameras that these two individuals targeted the Kosher grocery location,” Fulop says. He says two officers one block away immediately responded.

But Fulop does not elaborate, and his public safety director said Tuesday that terrorism wasn’t suspected. Neither the state attorney general, who is running the investigation, nor any other law enforcement authority has confirmed the shooters targeted Jews.

The bullets started flying early in the afternoon in the city of about 270,000. Seals, who worked for a unit called Cease Fire, was shot around 12:30 p.m.

“It’s a really tough day for the city of Jersey City,” Fulop said Tuesday. Seals “was one of the best officers for getting the most guns off the streets. He was a good cop.”

— AP