Subscribe Login
Jamaica Observer
ePaper
The Edge 105 FM Radio Fyah 105 FM
Jamaica Observer
ePaper
The Edge 105 FM Radio Fyah 105 FM
    • Home
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Cartoon
      • Central
      • North & East
      • Western
      • Environment
      • Health
      • International
      • #
    • Business
      • Social Love
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Basketball
      • Cricket
      • Horse Racing
      • World Champs
      • Commonwealth Games
      • FIFA World Cup 2022
      • Olympics
      • #
    • Entertainment
      • Music
      • Movies
      • Art & Culture
      • Bookends
      • #
    • Lifestyle
      • Page2
      • Food
      • Tuesday Style
      • Food Awards
      • JOL Takes Style Out
      • Design Week JA
      • Black Friday
      • #
    • All Woman
      • Home
      • Relationships
      • Features
      • Fashion
      • Fitness
      • Rights
      • Parenting
      • Advice
      • #
    • Obituaries
    • Classifieds
      • Employment
      • Property
      • Motor Vehicles
      • Place an Ad
      • Obituaries
    • More
      • Games
      • Jobs & Careers
      • Study Centre
      • Jnr Study Centre
      • Letters
      • Columns
      • Advertorial
      • Editorial
      • Supplements
      • Webinars
    • Home
    • News
      • Latest News
      • Cartoon
      • Central
      • North & East
      • Western
      • Environment
      • Health
      • International
      • #
    • Business
      • Social Love
    • Sports
      • Football
      • Basketball
      • Cricket
      • Horse Racing
      • World Champs
      • Commonwealth Games
      • FIFA World Cup 2022
      • Olympics
      • #
    • Entertainment
      • Music
      • Movies
      • Art & Culture
      • Bookends
      • #
    • Lifestyle
      • Page2
      • Food
      • Tuesday Style
      • Food Awards
      • JOL Takes Style Out
      • Design Week JA
      • Black Friday
      • #
    • All Woman
      • Home
      • Relationships
      • Features
      • Fashion
      • Fitness
      • Rights
      • Parenting
      • Advice
      • #
    • Obituaries
    • Classifieds
      • Employment
      • Property
      • Motor Vehicles
      • Place an Ad
      • Obituaries
    • More
      • Games
      • Jobs & Careers
      • Study Centre
      • Jnr Study Centre
      • Letters
      • Columns
      • Advertorial
      • Editorial
      • Supplements
      • Webinars
  • Home
  • News
  • Latest
  • Business
  • Cartoon
  • Games
  • Food Awards
  • Health
  • Entertainment
    • Bookends
  • Regional
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • World Cup
    • World Champs
    • Olympics
  • All Woman
  • Career & Education
  • Environment
  • Webinars
  • More
    • Football
    • Letters
    • Advertorial
    • Columns
    • Editorial
    • Supplements
  • Epaper
  • Classifieds
  • Design Week
Official: Jersey City attack was ‘fuelled’ by anti-Semitism
Police investigate a shooting
News
December 13, 2019

Official: Jersey City attack was ‘fuelled’ by anti-Semitism

NEW JERSEY, USA (AP) — The two killers who stormed a kosher market in Jersey City were driven by hatred of Jews and law enforcement, New Jersey’s attorney general said yesterday, adding that the case is being investigated as domestic terrorism.

Attorney General Gurbir Grewal also disclosed that the man and woman had five guns, including an AR-15-style rifle and a shotgun that they were wielding when they burst into the store in an attack that left the scene littered with several hundred shell casings. They also had a pipebomb in their van.

“The outcome would have been far, far worse” if not for the Jersey City Police, Grewal said. Authorities noted that a Jewish school is next to the market, and a Catholic school is across the street.

The attackers killed three people in the store, in addition to a police officer at a cemetery about a mile away, before dying in an hour-long gunbattle with police Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

“The evidence points toward acts of hate. I can confirm that we’re investigating this matter as potential acts of domestic terrorism fuelled both by anti-Semitism and anti-law enforcement beliefs,” the attorney general said. He said social media posts, witness interviews and other evidence reflected the couple’s hatred of Jews and police.

Grewal noted that after killing three people in the store, the couple concentrated their fire on police and did not shoot at others who happened to be on the streets.

Grewal said the attackers, David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50, had expressed interest in a fringe religious group called the Black Hebrew Israelites, whose members often rail against Jews and whites. But he said there was no evidence so far that they were members, and added that the two were believed to have acted alone.

The pair brought their cache of weapons in a U-Haul van they drove from Bay View Cemtery, where they shot and killed Jersey City Detective Joseph Seals, according to the attorney general.

Anderson fired away with the AR-15-style rifle as he entered the store, while Graham brought a 12-gauge shotgun into the shop. They also had handguns with a homemade silencer and a device to catch shell casings. In all, they had five guns — four recovered in the store, one in the van — in what Grewal called a “tremendous amount of firepower.”

Serial numbers from two of the weapons showed that Graham purchased them in Ohio in 2018, the attorney general said.

The victims killed in the store were: Mindel Ferencz, 31, who with her husband owned the grocery store; 24-year-old Moshe Deutsch, a rabbinical student from Brooklyn who was shopping there; and store employee Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, 49. A fourth person in the store was shot and wounded but managed to escape, authorities said.

Members of New York’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community gathered Wednesday night for funerals for Ferencz and Deutsch. Thousands of people, mostly men, followed Ferencz’s casket through the streets of Brooklyn, hugging and crying.

The bloodshed in the city of 270,000 people across the Hudson River from New York City spread fear through the Jewish community and weighed heavily on the minds of more than 300 people who attended a vigil Wednesday night at a synagogue about a mile from where the shootings took place.

In the deadliest attack on Jews in US history, 11 people were killed in an October 2018 shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Last April, a gunman opened fire at a synagogue near San Diego, killing a woman and wounding a rabbi and two others.

{"website":"website"}{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
img img
0 Comments · Make a comment

ALSO ON JAMAICA OBSERVER

Rhyeme Wright heads to Manhunt International next month
Entertainment, Latest News
Rhyeme Wright heads to Manhunt International next month
May 19, 2025
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Correctional officer and part-time model Rhyeme Wright, is Mr Manhunt International Jamaica 2025. He was selected as the winner la...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Megan Thee Stallion calls out online harassment, dismisses ‘new evidence’ in Tory Lanez case
Entertainment, International, Latest News
Megan Thee Stallion calls out online harassment, dismisses ‘new evidence’ in Tory Lanez case
May 19, 2025
Rapper Megan Thee Stallion, whose given name is Megan Pete, is reiterating her position that incarcerated fellow rapper Tory Lanez is guilty of shooti...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Key points in WHO Pandemic agreement
International News, Latest News
Key points in WHO Pandemic agreement
May 19, 2025
GENEVA, Switzerland — The WHO Pandemic Agreement, an accord designed to address the mistakes made in handling Covid-19, is being submitted for adoptio...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Carib Cement apologises after complaints of dust nuisance from damaged imported cement
Latest News, News
Carib Cement apologises after complaints of dust nuisance from damaged imported cement
May 19, 2025
ST ELIZABETH, Jamaica — The east Kingston-based Caribbean Cement Company is apologising for what retailers have labelled as a dust nuisance from damag...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
First group of ‘self-deporting’ migrants departs US
International News, Latest News
First group of ‘self-deporting’ migrants departs US
May 19, 2025
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The first group of undocumented migrants who accepted a payment of $1,000 from the US government and agreed to "self...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Trump fuels Biden cancer cover-up claims
International News, Latest News
Trump fuels Biden cancer cover-up claims
May 19, 2025
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump fueled speculation Monday that Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis was covered up, saying he was ...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Exercise extreme caution during a citizen’s arrest — JCF
Latest News, News
Exercise extreme caution during a citizen’s arrest — JCF
May 19, 2025
KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) is reminding members of the public to exercise extreme caution when attempting a citizen’s ar...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
Forex: $159.70 to one US dollar
Business, Latest News
Forex: $159.70 to one US dollar
May 19, 2025
KINGSTON, Jamaica – The US dollar on Monday, May 19, ended trading at $159.70 up by 54 cents according to the Bank of Jamaica's daily exchange trading...
{"jamaica-observer":"Jamaica Observer"}
❮ ❯

Polls

HOUSE RULES

  1. We welcome reader comments on the top stories of the day. Some comments may be republished on the website or in the newspaper; email addresses will not be published.
  2. Please understand that comments are moderated and it is not always possible to publish all that have been submitted. We will, however, try to publish comments that are representative of all received.
  3. We ask that comments are civil and free of libellous or hateful material. Also please stick to the topic under discussion.
  4. Please do not write in block capitals since this makes your comment hard to read.
  5. Please don't use the comments to advertise. However, our advertising department can be more than accommodating if emailed: advertising@jamaicaobserver.com.
  6. If readers wish to report offensive comments, suggest a correction or share a story then please email: community@jamaicaobserver.com.
  7. Lastly, read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Recent Posts

Archives

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Tweets

Polls

Recent Posts

Archives

Logo Jamaica Observer
Breaking news from the premier Jamaican newspaper, the Jamaica Observer. Follow Jamaican news online for free and stay informed on what's happening in the Caribbean
Featured Tags
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Health
  • Auto
  • Business
  • Letters
  • Page2
  • Football
Categories
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Page2
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Entertainment
  • Page2
Ads
img
Jamaica Observer, © All Rights Reserved
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • RSS Feeds
  • Feedback
  • Privacy Policy
  • Editorial Code of Conduct