One suspect’s shot dead. One’s in jail. But third is on the loose
DEPTFORD — With one shoplifting suspect shot to death by police and a second in custody, police in South Jersey are still searching for a third person believed to have been part of the deadly encounter.
On Monday the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office released a picture of Raoul Gadson, 43, of Philadelphia, who authorities say fled the scene on foot after fighting off Marshall's loss prevention officers on Saturday.
Gadson, along with LaShanda Anderson and Chanel Barnes, were seen by store employees trying to take a "substantial amount of unpaid merchandise," the prosecutor's office said on Sunday.
Anderson and Barnes attempted to escape the scene in a Nissan Armada, prosecutor's said. The prosecutor's office reported on Sunday that Anderson hit one of the responding officers with the car and attempted to drive at a second officer who then shot toward the car and killed her.
Gadson is described as being approximately 5 feet and 8 inches, weighing 225 pounds with brown eyes and black hair, according to the prosecutor's office. He also has multiple tattoos, including one on his neck. According to NJ.com Gadson pleaded guilty in 2009 to possessing controlled substances as contraband.
There is no dashcam or bodycam footage of the incident, NJ.com reported. But the prosecutor's office said it is conducting a "comprehensive and objective investigation" into the incident.
When he is taken into custody Gadson will face charges of second-degree robbery and assault charges. Barnes was also charged with shoplifting.
A woman named Lashanda Anderson's, of the same approximate age as the woman killed this weekend, was charged in a 2015 shooting in Philadelphia, through propsecutor's have not confirmed to media the two are the same. The Anderson in the 2015 incident was accused of shooting another woman in the legs after a dispute at a laundromat, and charged with offenses including attempted murder.
A LaShanda Ansderson had also been sought in connection with organized thefts from stores in Delaware.
Officers responding to the scene on Saturday were alerted that one of the suspects involved was wanted in connection with a prior homicide, but the prosecutor's office has not said which suspect or what past incident dispatchers had been describing.
On Sunday, the prosecutor's office asked anyone with information about the incident to call 856-466-6192 or 856-384-5500. Anyone with information about Gadson's whereabouts is asked to call 856-498-6238.
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