New Jersey shooters who killed 4 targeted Kosher store, officials say

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Two suspects who killed four people at a Kosher grocery store in New Jersey, and were themselves killed in a gunfight with police, specifically targeted the Jersey City Jewish community, the mayor said Wednesday.

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said surveillance video of the attack clearly reveals the pair's motivation. The shooters killed police Detective Joseph Seals, 39, and three shoppers on Tuesday.

Law enforcement sources confirmed the identifies of the shooters to the New York Post and WNBC-TV in New York City -- David Anderson and Francine Graham. They said Anderson at one time was a follower of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement, which they Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a black supremacist group.

Police found postings online linked to the man, which expressed anti-police and anti-Jewish views. The report also said the man had a prior criminal record.

Officials said the surveillance footage shows them pass a number of people along a busy street -- adding to investigators' belief the victims weren't chosen at random -- and, once inside, they aimed their guns at the Kosher deli.

It had been reported that Seals was shot dead at a nearby cemetery before the shooters went to the grocery store, but authorities noted Wednesday that it began at the supermarket.

"We now know this did not begin with gunfire between police officers and perpetrators, and then move to the store," Jersey City Public Safety Director James Shea said. "It began with an attack on the civilians inside the store."

Investigators were trying to determine a specific motive.