[News] Esther Salas case: Main suspect in attack on judge's family found dead

[XZoro]

The FBI has named the suspect in the deadly attack on a federal judge's family and says he is now dead.

 

 

It identified the man as Roy Den Hollander. No more details were given but sources told US media he had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The son of Judge Esther Salas was killed in the attack in New Jersey on Sunday and her husband was badly hurt.

The gunman, dressed as a FedEx delivery man, had opened fire at their home, police said.

A package addressed to Judge Salas was found inside his car, sources said.

The naming of the suspect was carried in a statement from the US attorney's office for the district of New Jersey.

The New York Times said Den Hollander was a self-described "anti-feminist" lawyer who had sued nightclubs over ladies' night discounts, the federal government over a law protecting women from violence and a university over women's studies courses.

He also brought a lawsuit before Judge Salas in 2015 challenging the male-only military draft, the Times said.

Target 'unknown'
The suspect's body was discovered near Liberty in New York's Sullivan County, about 130 miles (210km) from the crime scene, according to CBS News.

The motive for the attack was unclear. A local mayor and family friend said Judge Salas had received threats in the past.

Friends of the family told US media that Judge Salas's 20-year-old son Daniel Anderl, a student, opened the door at the family home in North Brunswick at about 17:00 local time (21:00 GMT) on Sunday and was fatally shot.

The judge's husband, Mark Anderl, 63, was then shot several times. Mr Anderl, who works as a criminal defence lawyer, was taken to hospital and was in a critical but stable condition in hospital, family said.

"We don't know if she was the target or he was the target," Carlos Salas, the judge's older brother, told the New York Times.

Groundbreaking judge
North Brunswick Mayor Francis Womack, who is a friend of the Salas family, told ABC News that as a judge, Esther Salas "had threats from time to time but everyone is saying that recently there had not been any".

Judge Salas serves on the federal bench in New Jersey. She is the first Hispanic woman to serve as a federal judge in New Jersey.

Daniel Anderl, the couple's only son, was due to resume university at the Catholic University of America in Washington in the autumn.

In a 2018 profile in New Jersey Monthly, Judge Salas said she thought her son would someday pursue a career in law, like his parents. "I don't want to dissuade him, but I was pulling for a doctor," she told the magazine.

"He's been arguing with us since he could talk - practising his advocacy skills."