According to a senior law enforcement official, two police officers were shot, one NYPD, the other based in New Jersey, and a suspect killed when gunfire broke out during an ongoing investigation that led cops to a popular banquet hall in Middlesex County.
Authorities responded to reports of a possible active shooter at Royal Albert’s Palace, a 1,000-person banquet hall at the Raritan Hotel in Woodbridge Township, around 12:30 a.m.
According to a senior law enforcement official, the NYPD had put a license plate alarm on a car in connection with a homicide out of East Harlem. Details on that case weren’t immediately available, but police in New Jersey using a license plate reader got a hit on the vehicle. NYPD officers responded to the scene, along with New Jersey State Troopers and officers from police departments in Woodbridge Township and Edison.
The official says the girlfriend of the suspect got into a confrontation with responding officers and ended up being arrested. Her boyfriend, alerted to the chaos, apparently came out of the building shooting.
He was killed as a result of the ongoing gunfire, according to a senior law enforcement official. An NYPD officer was shot in the foot, and a New Jersey officer was shot in the back. Both are expected to survive.
Police vehicles from Woodbridge and New York City departments were seen at the scene overnight. The road to the hall remained blocked off due to the investigation Thursday. A white SUV was seen being pulled from the parking lot area early Thursday, though it wasn’t clear if that was the vehicle that the NYPD had tagged.
Prosecutors confirmed that the New Jersey state attorney general’s office is investigating the overnight shooting.
