Jersey City Shooters Are Also 'Prime Suspects' in Murder of Uber Driver: Attorney General
The two suspects in Tuesday’s deadly Jersey City shooting rampage that targeted a Kosher supermarket are also the “prime suspects” in the killing of an Uber driver in Bayonne, N.J. earlier this week, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a press conference on Wednesday.
According to authorities, Jersey City Police Det. Joseph Seals, 39, was investigating the murder of 34-year-old Michael Rumberger at a cemetery a mile away from the market when he was fatally shot by David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50 — the suspects identified in the vicious attack that left six people dead.
Grewal did not provide any other details into the connection between the shooters and Rumberger, who was found dead in the trunk of a Lincoln town car on Dec. 7.
A release from Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office said Rumberger was found with trauma to his head by Bayonne Police Officers responding to a report of possible criminal activity.
Rumberger was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez, and the cause and manner of death are pending an investigation by the Regional Medical Examiner’s Office.
Tuesday’s shootout began around noon at the Bay View Cemetery in Jersey City, where authorities believe Seals tried to question Anderson and Graham about the homicide before he was killed, Grewal said.
According to the attorney general, Anderson and Graham then parked a white U-Haul van across the street from the JCC Kosher Supermarket at approximately 12:21 p.m. Within seconds of arriving, Anderson exited out the van with a rifle in hand, walked toward the store and immediately began shooting, said Grewal.
Graham soon followed Anderson in the store and began shooting, Grewal said. Three of the civilians in the market — identified as 31-year-old Mindel Ferencz, 49-year-old Miguel Douglas, and 24-year-old Moshe Deutsch — died while one unidentified civilian managed to escape, according to the attorney general.
After an hours-long standoff with police at the store, five bodies — including the two suspects — were found inside. Six people died from the overall attack.
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Police were able to recover numerous firearms from the scene of the shootout, as well as a pipe bomb, according to Grewal.
“The bomb was found in the attackers’ van,” FBI agent Gregory Ehrie said in the press conference. “It was a viable device, meaning it could be a device that would have exploded.”
Ehrie said the device was “not complicated, but sophisticated in the sense that time and effort went into creating it.”
At another Wednesday press conference, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said police were on “high alert” while Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop urged the community to stand together.
“I’m Jewish and proud to live in a community like #JerseyCity that has always welcomed everyone,” Fulop tweeted. “It is the home of #EllisIsland and has always been the golden door to America. Hate and anti-semitism have never had a place here in JC and will never have a place in our city.”
A GoFundMe page has been created to help raise money for Seals’ memorial, while another GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help with Rumberger’s burial.
