59°
Some would question the need for such a review given the circumstances of the fateful Dec. 10, 2019 firefight at a kosher grocery store.
The answer: It’s required under New Jersey law and state attorney general’s guidelines. Authorities had no choice.
David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50, had slain Jersey City Police Officer Joseph Seals in a nearby cemetery.
They then wounded another officer before killing Mindy Ferencz, 32, Douglas Miguel “Miguel” Rodriguez Barzola, 49, and Moshe Deutsch in the JC Kosher Supermarket in the city’s Greenville section. A survivor managed to escape.
A three-hour exchange of gunfire followed between police and Anderson and Graham, who were holed up in the store on Martin Luther King Drive.
An officer who'd taken cover across the street and three officers on the third floor of the Sacred Heart School fired key shots, law enforcement sources said at the time.
Two officers sustained non-fatal gunshot wounds, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said Wednesday.
Soon after, a Bearcat driven by Jersey City Police Officer Jimmy Frattini rammed the building and flash bombs were ignited.
Newark Police Detective Joseph Kerik (the son of former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik) and Jersey City Detectives Joziph Soliman and John Antman fired their weapons, as well, then found the dead shooters and civilians after they emerged from the vehicle.
An explosive device was found in a rental van the couple had arrived in. It had the capacity to kill or maim people up to 500 yards away, authorities said, adding that materials for a second bomb were also found.
Seals, 40, was investigating the killing of a city man found in the trunk of a car in Bayonne when he was gunned down in Bayview Cemetery earlier that day.
Seals -- a 17-year department veteran and father of five, including a newborn – was the 35th Jersey City police officer killed in the line of duty in the department's history.
Another officer was shot in the shoulder in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood on Martin Luther King Drive near Bayview Avenue.
The pair parked the van across the street from the store, then barricaded themselves inside and began randomly firing what witnesses said were long rifles.
A massive assemblage of law enforcement units rushed to the store, which was next to a building that houses a shul and a Hassidic school with 40 children who all remained sheltered in place during the gunfight.
Also locked down was Sacred Heart School, a Catholic elementary school across the street.
Several other city schools also were locked down, area buses and trains were halted, and Exit 14B of the New Jersey Turnpike exit was temporarily closed.
A SWAT team and city Emergency Services Unit were immediately summoned. New Jersey State Police, as well as the FBI and ATF, also responded, along with Bergen County's Crisis Negotiations Team, a Bergen County Regional SWAT team and the Hudson County Sheriff's Office.
The NYPD and Paramus, Lyndhurst and Garfield police also sent their Emergency Services units.
Among those discharging weapons, Bruck said, were Jersey City Officers Carlos Castillo, Jorge Lopez, Eric Tavarez, Mark McKnight, John Boamah, Stephen Gigante, Edward Fernandez and Felix Dejesus, Capt. Patrick Sullivan and Capt. James Crecco.
Despite the obvious circumstances, state law and attorney general guidelines both require Bruck to investigate any and all deaths that occur “during an encounter with a law enforcement officer acting in the officer’s official capacity or while the decedent is in custody."
The guidelines guarantee that the investigation is done “in a full, impartial and transparent manner."
Once the investigation is complete, the results are presented to a grand jury -- ordinarily consisting of 16 to 23 citizens -- that determines whether or not there's cause to suspect any wrongdoing on the part of law enforcement.
In this case, Bruck said Wednesday:
“The investigation of this fatal police encounter included interviews of witnesses, collection of forensic evidence, review of video footage, and autopsy results from the medical examiner.
“After hearing testimony and evidence from the investigation, the grand jury concluded its deliberations on Monday, Nov. 15, and voted ‘no bill,’ meaning a majority of grand jurors found the actions of the officers who shot Anderson and Graham were justified and no charges should be filed against the officers.
“An officer may use deadly force in New Jersey when the officer reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to protect the officer or another person from imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm.”
Click here to follow Daily Voice Egg Harbor Township and receive free news updates.
