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Michael Sean Carmody (COURTESY: BCPO)
Morgan, 31, underwent surgery this morning for two shots that penetrated her abdomen. Morgan’s family is with her at Hackensack University Medical Center, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said early this morning.
The exchange came just before midnight at the Garden State Parkway/Route 17 ramp in Paramus, Molinelli told CLIFFVIEW PILOT earlier this morning.
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: 3:25 p.m., Feb. 9: The man who shot Paramus Police Officer Rachel Morgan and then turned the gun on himself was declared dead at 3:02 p.m. today, CLIFFVIEW PILOT has learned. This come after law enforcement officials with direct knowledge of the incident told CLIFFVIEW PILOT late this afternoon that the trajectory of the bullet wound in Michael Sean Carmody’s chin clearly indicates he turned his own gun on himself after he was wounded in a shootout with police. READ MORE….
Morgan had pulled the gunman over in Paramus just after 11 p.m. when he suddenly hit the accelerator and took off, with the officer in pursuit, the prosecutor said.
She was chasing Carmody south on Route 17 when he crashed his silver vehicle trying to get onto the southbound GSP entrance ramp. As she approached the car, he began firing, hitting the officer “more than once in the abdomen area,” Molinelli said.
The prosecutor said Morgan and “a backup Paramus police officer whom cannot be named at this time” fired back at Carmody, hitting him several times. Although Molinelli didn’t confirm it, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the incident said he was struck in the head.
“Until the investigation is complete it cannot be determined how many rounds were fired,” the prosecutor said, “but suffice to say the number was considerable.”
Carmody, 23, whose rap sheet includes theft and drug possession convictions, underwent surgery and is listed in critical condition at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Paterson, he said.
A four-year veteran who joined the Paramus department two years ago, Morgan had worked with the New Jersey Institute of Technology police, Molinelli said.
“Her vest saved her from ONE shot [to the chest]. The second penetrated,” a law enforcement officer with knowledge of the shooting said. “Keep in mind that the vest does not cover the abdomen.”
For many, the news likely brought to mind 20-year Fair Lawn police veteran Mary Ann Collura, who was shot and killed by a man she was chasing after he crashed his car on a church lawn the night of April 17, 2003.
Her killer was shot dead himself, down in a quiet stretch of Florida, after he opened fire on police just three days later.
Carmody formerly lived in Jersey City and attended one of its most prestigious public schools, the Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School.
More recently a business administration major at Bergen Community College, he wrote on his Facebook page: “Hostility is ignorance in its purest form.”
[EDITOR’S NOTE: To the officer, and her family, all love, strength and faith. Protecting and serving us comes at such a price. This is exactly the kind of thing loved ones fear every single time a father, mother, sister, brother, son or daughter who wears a gun and a badge leaves for work.]
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