Killer of judge's son dead, officials say

A lawyer was identified by federal authorities as the gunman who shot into the New Jersey home of a federal judge, killing her son and wounding her husband.

New York State Police found the lawyer's body in upstate New York, near the town of Liberty, on Monday morning, hours after the shooting late Sunday afternoon at the New Jersey home of the judge, Esther Salas of the U.S. District Court in New Jersey. The authorities believe that the lawyer died from a self-inflected gunshot wound, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the matter.

Federal authorities said the lawyer was Roy Den Hollander, who in 2015 brought a lawsuit before Salas that challenged the male-only military draft.

The class-action lawsuit accused the Selective Service System, the independent government agency that maintains a database of Americans eligible for a potential draft, of violating women's equal protection rights by requiring only men to register with the service. Salas ruled that the lawsuit could proceed, and the case is ongoing.

As part of the investigation into Hollander's death, police found a package that was addressed to Salas, according to another law enforcement official briefed on the matter.

"There's a pretty good level of confidence he's the guy," the official said.

Federal and local authorities had been carrying out an intense search Monday for the gunman, canvassing the neighborhood while looking for witnesses and surveillance video, according to law enforcement officials.

Authorities believe that somebody dressed in a FedEx uniform was in the neighborhood around the time of the shooting, but it could not be determined if that person was the gunman, one of the officials said.

Salas was in the basement when the shots were fired and was not injured.

The shooting occurred at her home in North Brunswick, N.J., which is about 40 miles southwest of New York City.

The New York State Police were notified about 8:15 a.m. Monday about Hollander's body, which was found about a two-hour drive from Salas' home. Federal investigators were examining Hollander's car for any evidence and set up a crime scene near where his body was found, according to a law enforcement official.

The judge's husband, Mark Anderl, 63, was shot multiple times and Monday was in the hospital in stable condition, according to Carlos Salas, an older brother of the judge. Their son, Daniel Anderl, 20, died from a gunshot wound in his heart.

In an interview, Carlos Salas described an account of the shooting that he said was provided to him by federal authorities. Mark Anderl was at home Sunday afternoon when he looked out the window and thought he saw a FedEx deliveryman. After the doorbell rang, Daniel Anderl opened the door and was shot. When the older Anderl went over to see what happened, he was also shot.

Salas said his sister ran upstairs from the basement when she heard a scream and the gunshots.

The family does not know why the shooting occurred, but Carlos Salas said that either Esther Salas or Mark Anderl, a criminal defense lawyer, might have been the intended victims.

Daniel Anderl, their only child, was about to start his junior year at Catholic University of America in Washington.

"It's surreal," Carlos Salas said. "He was a vibrant, young, good-looking man. He had so much promise."

The FBI had been conducting the investigation with the U.S. Marshals and local authorities. A spokesman for FedEx said in a statement that the company was "fully cooperating with the authorities in their investigation."

Esther Salas, 51, is the first Hispanic woman to serve as a federal judge in New Jersey. President Barack Obama nominated her to the U.S. District Court for New Jersey in 2010. She had previously served as a magistrate judge and an assistant federal public defender.

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