Dressed as a FedEx delivery driver in what appears to be an assassination attempt, a gunman shot and killed the 20-year-old son of a U.S. District Judge Esther Salas as he answered the door of the family home Sunday in New Jersey.
According to reports, the gunman opened fire as the young man opened the door. The judge’s husband, standing behind his son, was also shot and wounded. The gunman reportedly then fled the scene.
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Her husband, defense lawyer Mark Anderl, was injured in the attack. He is well-known and well-connected in the state.
Just four days ago, Salas presided over a case involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and angry investors.
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“The FBI is investigating a shooting at the home of Judge Salas. We are working with our local and state partners,” FBI’s Doreen Holder, a spokesperson for the bureau’s Newark office, told Fox News.
Salas was in the basement at the time and wasn’t injured, according to a judiciary official who wasn’t authorized to comment and spoke anonymously to The Associated Press.
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The perpetrator, believed to be a lone gunman posing as a delivery person, was not in custody, the official said. The FBI tweeted Sunday night that it’s looking for one suspect in the shootings.
.@ATF_Newark Special Agents are on scene assisting @FBINewark https://t.co/p10QzQwQ5I
— ATF Newark (@ATF_Newark) July 20, 2020
Daniel Anderl, a college student, was the judge’s only child, the official said.
Salas, seated in Newark, was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed in 2011. Prior to that she served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge in New Jersey, after working as an assistant public defender for several years.
Her highest-profile case in recent years was the financial fraud case involving husband-and-wife “Real Housewives of New Jersey” reality TV stars Teresa and Joe Giudice, whom Salas sentenced to prison for crimes including bankruptcy fraud and tax evasion. Salas staggered their sentences so that one of them could be available to take care of their four children.
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In 2017, she barred federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against an alleged gang leader charged in several Newark slayings, ruling the man’s intellectual disability made him ineligible for capital punishment. Salas later sentenced the man to 45 years in prison.
Just four days ago, Salas presided over the ongoing lawsuit brought by Deutsche Bank investors involving Epstein and other “high-risk” customers.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
