The gunman, dressed as a FedEx delivery driver, who shot and critically wounded the husband of a federal judge in New Jersey and killed her son is believed to be a lawyer who had a case before the judge in 2015, according to reports.
After knocking on the North Brunswick, New Jersey, home of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, and riddling her husband and son with bullets, the killer appears to have taken his life in Liberty, New Jersey, ABC reported.
Salas' husband, Mark Anderl, a 63-year-old criminal defense lawyer and former prosecutor, remains in stable condition in an area hospital. Her 20-year-old son, Daniel, died at the scene.
Anderl answered a knock on the door of the family's house on a quiet, tree-lined street in North Brunswick about 5 p.m. Sunday, NBC reported. Daniel Anderl was shot when he came to his father's aid.
Salas was appointed to the federal bench nine years ago by President Barack Obama. She is the first Hispanic woman to serve on a federal bench in New Jersey. Previously, she was a magistrate judge and a public defender.
She had recently been appointed to preside over a case involving Deutsche Bank and financier Jeffrey Epstein, who hanged himself in a federal lockup last year while awaiting trial for sexually abusing dozens of young women.
Neighbors on Monday bemoaned the tragedy that has befallen the community.
"Just wonderful people. I never heard a bad word about them," said Marion Costanza, 76, a former defense lawyer who was friendly with Salas. "Obviously, somebody was after them. That's my take on it."
Costanza was napping when the gunfire erupted. "They were saying that it was her house and I almost died. What could I think?"
Of the son running to care for his dad, she said, "Another kid may have locked themselves in the bathroom or in a closet. ... And Daniel came running down the stairs after hearing the shot, and he's the one that's dead."
Costanza said Salas came upstairs from the basement when she heard the shots.
"Daniel ... that is the worst, because he was an only kid, only child. The family was very devoted to one another, very close to one another of course," Costanza said. "When he went off to college even, she was devastated, like she was losing her only child ... and she cried."
Daniel was a baseball player for St. Joseph's Regional High School in Metuchen, and then went to Catholic University in Washington, D.C.
"He was very close to his father, they had a basketball thing set up at one time and he would always be there with his father playing basketball," Costanza said.
The families had planned to have dinner together Friday at Casa Giuseppe, a local restaurant.
She added, "I think it will be a while before I see Esther again, because to return to this house without that child there ... ."
