Jersey City shootout murders being investigated as domestic terrorism, hate crime
Former federal prosecutor Steven Mulroy and former House committee counsel Chris Staszak weigh in.
Friends and family are set to gather Monday to pay tribute to murdered Jersey City detective Joseph Seals.
The afternoon wake is being held at a Jersey City funeral home. Seals’ funeral is Tuesday at Saint Aedan’s.
Seals, 40, was gunned last Tuesday by suspected domestic terrorists who went on to kill three people in a kosher market before engaging in a shootout with cops for several hours before being killed.
His mother told Fox News last week that her son's death does not seem real.
Slain New Jersey Police Officer Joseph Seals (Courtesy: Deborah Perruzza)
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"I just kept watching the news and I would see his picture and I was just saying to myself, 'Why him? Why him?'" Deborah Perruzza said.
Law enforcement officials have accused shooters David Anderson and Francine Graham of carrying out the attack fueled by anti-Semitism and hatred of police.
The town where Seals lived held a candlelight vigil Sunday on the steps of a church where he baptized the youngest of his five children two years ago.
Attendees wore blue T-shirts with Seals’ name and held candles during the vigil at Queen of Peace Church in North Arlington, the Bergen Record reported.
“They feel overwhelmed looking out here and seeing the support that this community has come to bring," North Arlington Mayor Daniel Pronti told the crowd, referring to members of the Seals family, according to the paper. "As we stand here and start our healing process, it’s comforting to know that for their family, they have this sea of a family that we have out here."
Father Mike Donavan remembered how filled with joy Seals was for his daughter's baptism.
"In a moment of terrible tragedy, especially a terribly violent family tragedy, words are oftentimes inadequate. But as human beings, that’s all we have: words," Donovan said, the paper reported. "Words of compassion. Words of forgiveness. Words of mercy. Certainly, words of peace."
Seals was a member of the Jersey City Police Department for 13 years and had been hailed for his efforts in getting illegal guns off the streets.
Seals went to the cemetery to meet a confidential informant and while there he came across Anderson and Graham in a U-Haul van, which was stolen, WPIX-TV reported Friday.
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The FBI is investigating Anderson’s ties to the Black Hebrew Israelite hate group, the station reported.
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