Surveillance and police body camera video in Jersey City kosher market shooting released
Newly released surveillance and police body camera video of the December 2019 shooting at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, New Jersey, shows a law enforcement response within minutes, as well as an officer exchanging shots from a school across the street.
The video was released by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office following an open records request.
Investigators say David N. Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50, killed a police detective near a Jersey City cemetery and then went to the nearby kosher market, where they shot and killed three people there and started an hourslong police standoff that ended with their deaths.
Their actions are believed to be “fueled by both anti-Semitism and anti-law enforcement beliefs,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said at the time.
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said Friday that the families of the shooting victims were given prior notice of the videos being released.
Surveillance video shows a police response within minutes
Previously obtained surveillance video from The Yeshiva World captured the moment when two shooters, identified by authorities as Anderson and Graham, opened fire on the kosher supermarket. Seconds after Anderson gets out of a rented U-Haul truck, bystanders duck and scatter.
Anderson walks forward with his rifle aimed at the market as people run down the sidewalk away from apparent gunfire. Others run into the street, slipping between parked cars.
The newly released surveillance video shows Anderson and Graham storming into the supermarket, followed by the response of law enforcement vehicles. Within two minutes of Anderson and Graham’s arrival, multiple police vehicles are seen arriving on the street and securing the surrounding area.
Another released surveillance video shows an armored police vehicle ramming into the storefront, around three hours after Anderson and Graham arrived.
Officer shoots from nearby school, confirms he is ‘friendly fire’
Body camera video from one officer who responded to the shooting shows the firing at the supermarket from Sacred Heart School across the street with bullet impacts visible. A barrage of gunshots can be heard on the video as the officer aims and shoots at the kosher store from behind a window shade. The officer can be seen reloading when his pistol magazine is empty.
At one point in the video, an unidentified voice on the video can be heard saying, “second floor, Sacred Heart,” in reference to the school where the officer was shooting from. The officer then responds on his radio by saying, “It’s an officer!” He then appears to crouch down beneath the window, before continuing, “That’s friendly inside of Sacred Heart. I say again, friendly, blue!”
Later, an unidentified woman can be heard saying via radio, “friendly fire inside of Sacred Heart,” confirming the officer is among the law enforcement responders on scene.
