JERSEY CITY (VINnews) — Leah Minda Ferencz, the co-owner of JC Kosher Supermarket in Jersey City, was named as one of the civilian victims killed in the horrific shootout Tuesday in Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Ferencz had incorporated the store, the only kosher store in the vicinity, together with her husband, Moishe Ferencz, in 2017.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Ferencz and her husband were both present in the store Tuesday morning, but Moishe had walked out of the store and stepped into the adjacent synagogue just prior to the incident.
Chabad Rabbi Moshe Schapiro, who shops at the kosher store and attends the synagogue next door, said he spoke with the store owner, Moishe Ferencz, who was unaware of what had happened to his wife.
“He told me he had just walked out of the store into the synagogue not five feet away just before this happened, and then he couldn’t get back for hours,” Schapiro said. “His wife was inside the store. He said, ‘I hope my wife is safe.’ ”
The furious shooting filled the streets of Jersey City with the sounds of heavy gunfire for hours Tuesday just across the Hudson River from New York City. A police officer, three bystanders and two suspects all died.
Jersey City Police Chief Michael Kelly said the officer was trying to stop some “bad guys” near a cemetery. The gunmen then drove a stolen rental van to another part of the city and engaged police in a lengthy shootout from inside the kosher market.
Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said in a tweet Wednesday morning that a review of security cameras show that the gunmen targeted the market. He says two officers one block away immediately responded and engaged with the gunmen.