Jersey City Shooter Hid Handcuff Keys In His Underwear
A demolition and recovery crew works at the scene of the December 10, 2019 shooting at a kosher supermarket on December 11, 2019 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Image by BRYAN R. SMITH/Afp/AFP via Getty Images
By Aiden Pink December 16, 2019
The man and woman accused of killing three people in a Jersey City, N.J. kosher grocery store were both found to have keys that could unlock handcuffs — the man’s in his underwear, local news station NBC4 reported Monday, citing law enforcement sources.
Police searching through the clothes of David Anderson and Francine Graham, the alleged perpetrators of the shooting, found the keys, NBC4 reported, though it didn’t disclose where Graham’s key was hidden. Officials theorize that the keys could have been used to free themselves and escape should they have been captured alive by police. Instead, they died in a shootout with police after shooting an undercover police officer in a nearby cemetery and then killing three more in the grocery store.
A pawnshop owner in Keyport, New Jersey, 40 minutes away from Jersey City, was arrested on weapons charges on Saturday after his contact information was discovered in Anderson’s phone. Police are investigating whether he sold the duo weapons that they used in their alleged spree.
Officials said that Anderson is a former member of the anti-Semitic Black Hebrew Israelite movement, and that he railed against Jews and police on his social media pages. State attorney general Gurbir Grewal said Thursday that while the investigation is ongoing, officials believe the shooters were “clearly targeting” the kosher store and the police department.
Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at pink@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aidenpink
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
