Six people dead in New Jersey shooting

Six people, including one police officer, were killed in Jersey City, N.J., on Tuesday in a series of gunfights that brought destruction to a kosher market and made a residential area feel like a war zone.

The dead included three people in the market as well as two suspected shooters, officials said. The slain police officer, Detective Joseph Seals, 40, was a longtime veteran with the Jersey City Police Department, according to Chief Mike Kelly.

Officials believe the shooting began when the detective approached one of the gunmen at a nearby cemetery in connection with a homicide investigation and was shot dead, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The gunmen then fled in a truck and eventually ended up at the kosher market, where they opened fire on police officers and civilians, officials said. For much of the next hour, residents nearby — and blocks away — could hear rapid bursts of gunfire echoing off the low buildings.

Investigators believe that the store was chosen randomly and that the incident was not a hate crime. There was “no indication of terrorism,” said Jersey City’s director of public safety, James Shea, at a news conference.

– NYtimes