One police officer was killed and a second was injured in a shooting in Newark on Friday night, a police officers’ union said in a statement.
The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said the shooting had taken place at around 6:30 p.m. near the intersection of Broadway and Carteret Street, where an elementary school and a Lutheran church face each other across a busy commercial street.
The prosecutor’s office said the two police officers had been taken to University Hospital. Neither officer has been publicly identified. The authorities have not provided information about who shot them or the circumstances surrounding the shooting.
The union, the New Jersey Fraternal Order of Police, said in a post on social media that two officers had been shot in the line of duty on Friday and that one of them had “made the ultimate sacrifice.”
The shooting shattered the calm of a typically quiet neighborhood of Newark’s North Ward, a working-class and largely Latino area of New Jersey’s largest city. Said Anthony, 30, said he was in his living room at home when he heard gunshots.
“I thought they were fireworks,” said Mr. Anthony, a medical transport driver. “Then all the cops came flying by. I’ve never seen something like this.”
Matthew J. Platkin, New Jersey’s attorney general, said in a statement that “our law enforcement officers put themselves in harm’s way every day to protect our communities, and tonight is a painful reminder of the depth of the sacrifices they make.”
Gov. Phil Murphy, in a statement posted online, asked for people to “pray for these officers, their families, and all our men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line to keep us safe.”
Residents of the area where the shooting took place said they felt rattled on Friday night.
“This is supposed to be one of the safest places in Newark,” Mr. Anthony said. “You can walk around here at night, but it’s not safe right now.”
Johnny Williams, 32, moved to the neighborhood seven years ago seeking a calm environment for his daughters to grow up in.
“Stuff like this normally doesn’t happen here,” said Mr. Williams, whose daughters go to school nearby. “You’ve got to be cautious with your children. With everything that’s going on in this world, we don’t need this now.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Mark Bonamo contributed reporting.
