Exactly one week after the unsolved murder of another New Jersey lawmaker, a second New Jersey councilman has been shot and killed.
A former coworker shot and killed 51-year-old Russell Heller around 7 a.m. on Wednesday in the parking lot of the energy firm where he worked.
Gary Curtis, 58, was instantly identified as a suspect in the unsolved murder; however, he was later discovered dead in a car with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Seven days prior to the murder of the Milford councillor, Sayreville councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, 30, was discovered dead in her white Nissan SUV after it crashed near her New Jersey residence.
Her murder is still unsolved, although authorities have not yet connected it to Heller’s.
Despite the near proximity of the two fatalities, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office claimed that Heller’s murder looks to be ‘an isolated incident.’
The investigation continues to determine the motive.
Additionally, the prosecutor’s office emphasized that Heller was the intended target.
Following the untimely deaths of the two Republican congressmen, tributes have poured in.
Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey expressed his condolences to the dead councilman’s “family and friends in the wake of this tragic act of gun violence.”
Henri Schepens, the mayor of Milford, where Heller served as a councilman, told NJ.com, ‘The Milford Borough Council is terribly grieved by his passing, and our hearts go out to his family.
The mayor stated that Heller was so full of life that it is unfathomable that he has passed away.
This has never happened in the history of the borough. We are quite disturbed by this.
Congressman Tom Kean further stated that he was “shocked and saddened by the tragic murder.”
He tweeted, “Russell was an outstanding public servant who proudly represented the river town he loved.”
»Second New Jersey councilperson shot dead in a week: 51-year-old slain by ex-coworker«