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Jersey City Shooting: 5 Police Officers Shot and 2 Suspects Dead

by Amy Judd | July 16, 2009 at 08:03 am

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In an early morning Jersey City shooting, five police officers were badly shot and two suspects are dead after the primary suspect had an automatice weapon according to Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy.

The shootout happened about 5 a.m. after officers approached two people heading for a car connected to an armed robbery, Comey said. Police were conducting a criminal investigation involving the pair.

"These individuals were being sought by our department for a major crime," he told reporters Thursday. "This individual (and his accomplice) came ready to go to war with us."

The two suspects fired in to the police car and then barricaded themselves in a nearby apartment and began shooting the officers.

Two police officers are in critical condition in hospital and have undergone surgery, one was shot in the face and suffered cardiac arrest but survived and the other was hit in the chest and neck.

"It was a terrible gunfight," said the mayor.

Three other police officers were also hurt, but not by guns in the gunbattle.
None of the names have been released, but the area where the shooting took place is known for heavy drug activity.

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Doug T (not verified)

at 14:02 on July 16th, 2009

Well just more proof that NJ's crazy gun laws and in particular Jersey City's are keeping weapons out of known criminal's hands and our public safe. I vote to give our brave Police Officers more power to do their jobs and get more jerks like this off the streets without having to put themselves in such dander in the process. I hope the injured officers all recover fully to help the community again.

PA Tpr (not verified)

at 04:00 on July 24th, 2009

May God bless the family, coworkers, and friends of these heros. Acts like this really question whether our country's search and seizure laws are best for our nation. Would a prior, planned search of that building and subsequent seizure of the weapons have saved a life? Would that search really have been "unreasonable"? Should police really need a warrant? Or just resonable suspicion? The criminal justice system needs more power.