A Newark police officer was killed and another officer suffered critical injuries in a shooting in New Jersey’s largest city Friday evening, according to the police union and officials.
Gunfire erupted after 6 p.m. in the area of Broadway and Carteret Street in the city’s North Ward, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said. Police responded after 18 shots were fired.
As they got to the scene, the officers came across gunfire and called for urgent backup. Two officers were shot, according to officials.
One officer was struck in the head by a bullet and was rushed to University Hospital in critical condition, where they later died, the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association said in a post on Facebook.
The other officer was critically injured but had wounds that were not considered to be life-threatening, according to the county prosecutor’s office.
The officers have not been publicly identified.
A suspect was taken into custody, and is believed to have been responsible for firing the bullets that struck the officers, officials said.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he had been “updated on an incident” involving the officers in Newark, and urged people to “pray for these officers, their families, and all our men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line to keep up safe.”
The state attorney general’s office said it was monitoring the situation as well.
No further information was immediately available. An investigation is ongoing.
