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2 NJ councilmembers killed in separate shootings. Why did authorities share more about one?
By
Karen Yi
Published Feb 10, 2023
Modified Feb 10, 2023
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Dwumfour photo via Sayreville GOP. Russ Heller photo via Russ Heller's Facebook page.
By
Karen Yi
Published Feb 10, 2023
Modified Feb 10, 2023
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In the span of just a week, two councilmembers from New Jersey were fatally shot in crimes taking place 60 miles apart. The cases are being handled by two different county prosecutors offices. While one’s been quick to share information, the other has been nearly silent.
In the case of Russell Heller, who was fatally shot on Wednesday, prosecutors have released more information. His alleged shooter is already identified — and dead. In the case of the killing of Eunice Dwumfour, no arrest has been made, and it’s unknown if authorities have a suspect.
Law enforcement experts and transparency advocates both say that deciding what information to release about a case can hinge on a critical factor: whether a killer is still at large.
“The key priority is the investigation and trying to track down and catch the killer, and that has to take precedence over the public relations aspect of it,” said Rocco Cipparone, a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor.
Authorities say 51-year-old Heller, a Milford councilmember and PSE&G employee, was shot by Gary Curtis, a resident of Washington Township, Warren County, who later fatally shot himself.
Within seven hours, officials at the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office had released a detailed accounting of what they knew, including the name of the alleged shooter and the fact he’d also previously worked for PSE&G.
Officials described the shooting as an isolated incident with Heller as the intended target, and described finding Curtis with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a parking lot a town over. They said they were still working to determine a motive. Less than a day later, they further clarified that the incident was not politically motivated.
One week before Heller’s death, Dwumfour, a Sayreville councilmember, was shot and killed in her SUV outside her home. Officials investigating the Sayreville killing haven’t said if they’re aware of a motive, or if there’s a person of interest in the case.
It was a full week before Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone, speaking at an unrelated event, first said there was no ongoing threat to the Sayreville community, though she didn’t specify how she knew that.
Ciccone's office took the unusual step of filing a lawsuit to keep media from getting access to records like 911 calls, or police transmissions from the night of Dwumfour’s death — a move transparency advocates described as aggressive, and one that could intimidate members of the public from exercising their right to request records. The prosecutor’s office ultimately withdrew the suit.
Brian Higgins, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the former Chief of Bergen County Police, said authorities have to consider whether releasing public information before a suspect is apprehended could negatively affect the investigation, or tip the person off that the police are closing in.
“The police have to balance between their investigation and public safety, with the No. 1 priority being saving lives,” he said.
That might mean releasing information on a potential suspect if there’s a chance there could be more victims, even if it interferes with the ongoing investigation. Higgins said. If the victim was targeted and there’s no risk to others, there’s not as much of a need to release information that could interfere with the ongoing probe, he said.
But Cipparone said there’s no harm in law enforcement agencies telling reporters and the public why they can’t disclose certain details, and explaining that doing so could compromise the investigation or potentially prejudice a jury pool.
While Somerset officials investigating Heller’s death have declined to answer some questions, citing the ongoing investigation, they’ve still maintained open lines of communication with the media.
In Middlesex, however, a spokesperson for Ciccone’s office has repeatedly said that there would be no press conferences or further comments during the ongoing investigation.
“I don't know that public interest is being accomplished by releasing nothing,” Higgins said. “You have to look outside of this incident long-term. You're going to hurt your relationship with the media and the public is really gonna lose some confidence in law enforcement.”
Experts also said agencies that aren’t used to handling high-profile homicides or cases that garner national attention could be under more pressure and stress from having to navigate the media frenzy for the first time. They’re also hyper-aware of blunders by other agencies that have given out incorrect information during the initial press conference — like the one following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in which officials wrongly described officers running into the school to protect children when they actually waited more than an hour before confronting the gunman.
Robert Bianchi, a former Morris County prosecutor who now heads a defense firm, said he’d usually try to say as little as he could about a case — but he’d try to reassure the public if there was no ongoing threat.
“But you’ve got to be careful. … There are people [leading investigations] that say ‘Oh, there's no danger to the community, and they have no idea how the murder took place,’” he said.
He said he’s seen county prosecutors’ offices, which take point on major crimes in their jurisdictions, take wildly varying approaches to public engagement. He believes they’d benefit from some standardized training and guidance that balances ethical rules about protecting due process, strategy for pursuing an ongoing case, and serving the public’s need for information.
John Paff, a government transparency advocate, said law enforcement agencies aren’t required to hold press conferences or issue statements, but they should.
“They should recognize that informing the public of what has happened in as timely a matter as possible is a primary function of their position. The public, these are the people that pay the taxes. These are the people … who vote. They need to know,” he said.
Cipparone said that agencies must often keep quiet for the good of an investigation, even if it hurts their public standing in the short-term.
“Sometimes that's a hit that law enforcement has to take for the good of the investigation,” he said.
This story has been updated to say Gary Curtis was the person police found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Tagged
public safety
new jersey
Politics
Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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