The husband and son of U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas were shot Sunday evening after a gunman dressed as a Federal Express delivery driver entered their North Brunswick, N.J., home, the New Jersey Globe reports. Daniel Anderl, the judge’s 20-year-old son, is dead. He was a student at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Her husband, Mark Anderl, 63, a criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, is in critical but stable condition after undergoing surgery. Salas was unharmed. The suspect remains at large, the FBI said.
It was not immediately clear who the target of the shooting was. Salas had been the target of threats. Salas, a respected jurist, had served as a public defender and federal magistrate before President Barack Obama nominated her to serve as a federal judge in 2010. She is the first Latina to serve as a federal judge in New Jersey. The daughter of a Cuban mother and a Mexican father, Salas spent part of her childhood on welfare after a fire destroyed her apartment. Gov. Phil Murphy said, “This tragedy is our latest reminder that gun violence remains a crisis in our country and that our work to make every community safer isn’t done.” In 2005, the husband and mother of U.S. District Court Judge Joan Lefkow were shot and killed in the judge’s Chicago home. A suspect killed himself and left a suicide note admitting to the shootings. That suspect said he intended to kill the judge.