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[UPDATES] Son Of Federal Judge Killed, Husband Wounded, In New Jersey Shooting
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Jul 20, 2020
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By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Jul 20, 2020
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[SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES] A gunman dressed as a FedEx driver fatally shot the son of a federal judge in New Jersey and critically injured her husband on Sunday, according to local authorities.
U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, who is currently overseeing a lawsuit against Deutsche Bank related to Jeffrey Epstein, was not hurt.
Her son, Daniel Anderl, a 20-year-old freshman at Catholic University, answered the door at around 5 p.m. and was "shot through the heart," North Brunswick Mayor Francis "Mac" Womack told ABC News. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Salas's husband, defense attorney Mark Anderl, was wounded in the shooting. Initial reports from law enforcement indicated he was standing behind his son, and opened the door to "a hail of gunfire," before the shooter fled.
U.S. Marshals, the FBI, and local authorities are still searching for the gunman. The FBI said on Twitter that they are looking for "one subject."
A law enforcement source confirmed to Gothamist that the shooter appeared to be wearing a FedEx uniform — though it's unclear if he worked for the company or was wearing a disguise. A spokesperson for FedEx did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Judge Salas has handled several high profile cases since her appointment by President Obama in 2010.
In 2014, she presided over a fraud case involving Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice and her husband Joe Giudice. She also sentenced Farad Roland, the leader of a Newark street gang, to 45 years in prison in 2018.
Last week, Judge Salas was assigned the lawsuit by Deutsche Bank investors, who allege that company made false statements and improperly monitored the account of Epstein. Earlier this month, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $150 million in fines for compliance failures related to the account, after allegedly ignoring "ample" evidence of suspicious activity coming from the late financier.
Authorities have not linked the shooting to the Epstein case. Salas had been the target of unspecified threats, the New Jersey Globe reported.
In a statement, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy called the shooting a "senseless act."
"This tragedy is our latest reminder that gun violence remains a crisis in our country and that our work to make every community safer isn't done," he said.
Update 2 p.m.: Investigators are eyeing a potential suspect in the deadly shooting. Law enforcement sources are telling multiple news outlets the investigation is focusing on an attorney who was found dead on Monday morning in the upstate New York town of Rockland, a two hour drive from Salas's home.
Sources tell the Daily Beast that the lawyer, who was found dead with a gun nearby, had a case pending before Salas involving a challenge to the military’s male-only draft. Police investigating the lawyer's death found a package in the vicinity that was addressed to Judge Salas, the NY Times reports.
Update 2:45 p.m.: Neighbors say they heard popping noises around 5 p.m. but assumed they were firecrackers. "This is a very peaceful community, so I would never think something criminal would happen here," Jenny Wang told the NY Post. Her husband subsequently saw the elder Anderl sitting in his driveway using his cellphone.
“He thought it seemed normal enough — maybe someone was playing loud video games inside the house, so [Anderl] had gone outside to make a phone call,” Wang said. “My husband saw the FedEx truck, too, but he didn’t realize. He didn’t pay attention to the plate number.”
Friend and neighbor Marion Costanza told the tabloid that Salas and her husband "doted on their son. Daniel was their only child, which is just horrible. When he went off to college, she was so depressed. For a week, maybe longer, she was so depressed. He was only going to Washington, DC, but to her, this wasn’t just her firstborn, but her only child going off to college after living in the house for all those years. So I can’t even imagine what this woman is going through now, having lost her only child.”
Update 4:00 p.m.: The alleged gunman has now been identified by multiple outlets as Roy Den Hollander, a men's rights activist and self-described "anti-feminist lawyer" based in New York.
Records show that Den Hollander had a case before Salas, originally filed in 2015, challenging the military's male-only draft. Den Hollander previously made headlines for his failed lawsuits that aimed to outlaw Ladies Nights at local bars and ban women's studies classes at Columbia University.
He was reportedly found dead of self-inflicted wounds in his Rockland County home on Monday.
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Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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