MURDERED IN COLD BLOOD: VICTIMS IDENTIFIED IN JERSEY CITY SHOOTING

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[Original report below.] Update, 10:40 PM ET:It is with great sadness that Matzav.com confirms the passing of two Yidden in today’s terror shooting in Jersey City. They are 33-year-old Mrs. Leah Mindel Ferentz z”l of Jersey City, wife of Reb Moshe Dovid Ferentz, and a daughter of Reb Binyomin Hersh Greenfeld, and habochur Moshe Hersh Deutch z”l (picture above), 24, of Williamsburg, son of Reb Shalom Deutch and a cousin of Mrs. Ferenz.

Mrs. Ferenz worked in the supermarket where the attack took place.

Update, 9:28 PM ET: Mayor Steven Furlop of Jersey City tweeted tonight that the shooting incident today may have been a targeted attack.

“Based on our initial investigation (which is ongoing),” Furlop wrote, “we now believe the active shooters targeted the location they attacked.”

“Due to an excess of caution the community may see additional police resources in the days/weeks ahead. We have no indication the are any further threats.”

Original Updated Story: Several people, including at least one officer, were killed in Jersey City, N.J., this afternoon after two people opened fire around a frum convenience store, officials said, touching off a firefight involving dozens of law enforcement officers that made the residential area take on the feel of a war zone.

The gunfire broke out around 12:30 p.m.

The incident – reportedly a drug bust gone bad – began at the Bay View Cemetery before the shooters ran to Jersey City (JC) Kosher Supermarket at 223 Martin Luther King Drive.

One police officer was shot and died in the hospital. Another five people – including two shooters – and three civilians – were killed inside the store. A third shooter is said to be in custody.

Misaskim and Chesed Shel Emes are at the scene.

An eyewitness confirmed that two of the civilians killed are members of the local Chassidic community, but no official confirmations have been made. Several false reports have been refuted.

The incident began at the aforementioned cemetery, where an undercover police officer—since identified as Detective Joseph Seals, a married father of five—was shot and later declared dead. The two shooters then ran into the grocery, spraying bullets at random, and after a multi-hour standoff were killed by the police in the store.

One Chassidic Jew was evacuated to an area hospital with multiple gunshot wounds and is recovering in good condition. All are asked to daven for the recovery of Chaim ben Leah.

Chabad.org reports that Rabbi Moshe Schapiro, co-director of Chabad of Hoboken and Jersey City, was with the injured at the hospital along with other community members. The wounded individual had slipped out the back door of the store when the shooting began and was struck multiple times.

Chabad.org reports that the JC store is located next door to a small, yet visible, shul, said Rabbi Shmuel Levitin, who directs Chabad Young Professionals of Hoboken and Jersey City with his wife Esta, and frequents the store. The store owner had left his shop moments before the shooting began to daven Mincha at the shul and was unable to return to the shop which his wife was tending to.

“I was standing by the salad bar in the grocery and I heard three shots, bullets shattered the glass of the grocery,” shared one eyewitness via WhatsApp. “Suddenly I saw two people come in, with long black raincoats and long guns. They tried to point the gun at me, I pushed it away and ran away.”

Above the shul is a Chassidic school with 40 children, who were sheltered in place throughout the saga.

Sacred Heart School, a Catholic elementary school across from the scene of the shooting, was also placed on lockdown, a worker at the school said.

In recent years, approximately 100 Chassidic families, priced out of Williamsburg and other Brooklyn neighborhoods, have relocated to Jersey City. Its proximity to Manhattan has also attracted young Jews.

For more than an hour, loud exchanges of gunfire rang out in the city’s Greenville neighborhood. Helicopters circled overhead as police officers swarmed the streets. They aimed handguns and long guns in every direction as they traveled down the street in formations, knocking on doors and ushering residents and business owners to safety.

Gov. Philip D. Murphy said in a statement: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the men and women of the Jersey City Police Department, especially with the officers shot during this standoff, and with the residents and schoolchildren currently under lockdown.”

Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the scene, including the F.B.I. and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

New Jersey Transit said it was suspending bus service and Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service as officers continued to respond. Twelve public schools in the vicinity of the shooting were shut down and on lockdown, according to the superintendent of Jersey City Public Schools, Frank Walker.

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement, “The situation in Jersey City remains fluid and we are working closely with our local, county, state, and federal partners to ensure the safety of everyone involved. Please keep the officers of the Jersey City Police Department in your thoughts and prayers as they work to resolve the situation. We remain, as always, extraordinarily grateful for their service and their sacrifice.”

{Matzav.com Newscenter, reporting by the NY Times, CNS News}


13 COMMENTS

    • Why is that important?! Whats the difference to the general public if it was friendly fire or not?! were the police trying to do their job to the best of their ability? Thats all that matters. Why start this passive besmirchment campaign?!

      • To Sammy,
        From your comment I can see that you are a very good person.
        May the Almighty bless you and your family with lots of good health.

    • Regardless if it matters (or not), an eyewitness (that managed to flee) confirmed that they were trying to shoot him. The injured that made it out told that he looked back & saw the yeshiva student falling to the ground. Very obvious they were all shot nebech well before the police converged. They were ought to kill.

      Besides, the Police has later confirmed that none of the deceased were by any of their bullets.

      הי”ד

  1. And we wonder why the world has ever discussed enough to pay Israel a place of health.

    It is a war. I wonder how deep we will go. What has been our wage of health?

    Destitute jews are barely able to fill their bags for a week or two and pay is limited as the horrendous “safe” jew avoids kosher. I am sick. Who can help us? I have a store I go to often and I dare think it is too scary.

  2. when i grew up we were taught that life is sacred. now we are being encouraged to mutilate our bodies if we dont like the gender we were born with, to kill our unborn children if we changed our minds about being a parent and to murder the elderly because it costs too much money, time, and effort to care for them. ברוך השם שלא עשני גוי

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