Jersey City kosher market shooting was targeted hate crime, mayor says
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and Public Safety Director James Shea offer an update on the investigation on 'Fox & Friends.'
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said on “Fox & Friends” Thursday that the shooting that unfolded at a kosher market in his city was a "targeted" attack, adding that the reason he is “so vocal” is because “whenever you have hate and anti-Semitism, it’s important to call it out for what it is very quickly while the world is watching."
He added that the reason it is important to "call it out" early is "to make sure that people recognize that this is something we need to push down on.”
At least one of the suspects reportedly had published anti-Semitic and anti-police posts online before opening fire on Tuesday.
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Fulop said after reviewing surveillance footage that investigators believe the attack was plotted against the Jewish supermarket, located just across the Hudson River from New York City. Six people were killed in total -- four victims, including a police officer, and the two suspects.
New Jersey Police veteran detective Joseph Seals, a father of five, was identified as one of the victims. Police said Seals was shot in the head and upper arm at a Jersey City cemetery before the suspects took off for the kosher supermarket.
Officials identified the bystanders killed at the market as Mindy Ferencz, 31; Miguel Douglas, 49; and Moshe Deutsch, 24.
Speaking on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday morning, Fulop said had police not acted so quickly, more people likely would have been killed, including inside a neighboring yeshiva.
“When you look at the facts that surrounded what happened here, there were a lot of potential targets on the way, there were a lot of potential targets on the block,” Fulop said.
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“They [the suspects] brought high-powered weapons and they fired from across the street and then advanced into this kosher supermarket and had the police officers not responded from a block away that were on a foot post, more than likely they would have gone into the yeshiva [an Orthodox Jewish place of learning] next door.”
Fulop added, “I think that’s pretty safe to conclude based on the amount of weapons that they had and the ammunition.”
Multiple weapons and a "sophisticated" pipe bomb were recovered from the scene of Tuesday's deadly shooting, officials revealed at a news conference Wednesday.
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said the two suspects, identified as David N. Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50, may have also been involved in a separate killing in neighboring Bayonne, N.J.
The suspects had been linked to the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, a militant group whose members believe they're descendants of the ancient Israelites and who have been known to rail against white people and Jews.
Fulop tweeted Wednesday afternoon: "We shouldn’t parse words. To stop hate + anti-Semitism we need to call it out QUICKLY for what it is. Some will say don’t call it anti-Semitism or a hate crime till a longer review but being Jewish myself + the grandson of holocaust survivors I know enough to call it what this is."
The investigation is ongoing.
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Fulop was joined by Jersey City Director of Public Safety James Shea on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday morning. Shea warned of fake GoFundMe pages appearing online.
Shea said he encourages anyone who wants to give charitably to any of the victims not to rush into donating online, instead they should contact the city first.
He added that anybody who thinks they may have been a victim of fraud should contact the New York State Attorney General or the FBI.
Fox News’ Nicole Darrah, Barnini Chakraborty and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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