They ‘confronted evil’ — Watch cops respond in Jersey City shootout

JERSEY CITY — The state's largest police union has released footage showing police officers responding during the gunfire that left multiple people dead in the massacre at a Jewish supermarket Tuesday, just after one of their own had been killed by the gunmen at a nearby cemetery.

"There were so many heroes on Tuesday," the New Jersey State PBA wrote in a Facebook post Thursday. "Brave officers who confronted hundreds of rounds being fired at them. This video and picture captures one of those heroic moments."

Among those killed Tuesday in Jersey City was Officer Joseph Seals, shot in a cemetery during an encounter with ex-con David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50, according to Jersey City police and state authorities. Both shooters were killed later Tuesday afternoon in a shootout with police at the JC Kosher Supermarket, where three other people were found shot dead.

Surveillance video appears to show the shooters specifically targeting the supermarket, where Mindy Ferencz, 31, Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, 49 and Moshe Deutsch, 24 were all killed.

During the gunfire, the PBA writes, "one Jersey City police officer responds and confronts the killers by pinning them down in the kosher grocery store. He is almost immediately shot and stumbles behind a parked car. Jersey City Sergeant Majorie Jordan instinctively reacts, abandons her cover and runs into the hail of gunfire to aid the other officer who is shot in the shoulder. She gets him to his feet and to safety, all the while taking heavy gunfire."

It continues: "The heroics of Sergeant Jordan and this officer were played out throughout the ordeal by dozens of officers. We work with some courageous men and women. They fearlessly confronted evil by running into gunfire to stop killers who wanted to kill dozens more. On that terrible day in #JerseyCity we witnessed amazing courage and bravery. They represent the best of who we are."

In a press conference Wednesday, Jersey City police director James Shea also praised the officers' heroics.

“The nearby officers heard the gunfire and placed themselves in the line of fire," Shea said according to an account of the press conference by NJ.com. "Both (of) them received gunshot wounds as a result. And within seconds, more Jersey City police officers responded to their calls, pulled them out of the line of fire and continued to engage."

The shootout occurred on a busy street, across from a school.

“Without that response immediately from those police officers — immediately and heroically, I believe — the streets were filled with people and the schools surrounding them were filled with people," Shea said. "With the amount of ammunition they had, we have to assume they would’ve continued attacking.”

Jordan's actions were also celebrated online by several Jersey City residents, as well as current and former members of the police department.

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