David Anderson and the 2019 Jersey City Massacre
Background
David Nathaniel Anderson was a 47-year-old mass murderer who, together with his girlfriend and accomplice, 50-year-old Francine Graham, carried out a deadly antisemitic and anti-law-enforcement attack in Jersey City, New Jersey, on December 10, 2019. Their crimes left four victims dead in Jersey City and were connected to the earlier killing of a man in nearby Bayonne. Anderson and Graham were ultimately killed during an extended confrontation with police inside a kosher grocery store.
Investigators determined that Anderson had expressed intense hostility toward Jewish people and law-enforcement officers. Authorities found writings and online material associated with him that contained antisemitic beliefs, conspiracy theories and statements advocating violence against police. New Jersey officials concluded that the Jersey City attack was an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime motivated by antisemitism and anti-police hatred.
Events Before the Massacre
In the weeks before the Jersey City shooting, Anderson and Graham acquired weapons, practiced shooting and conducted surveillance of possible targets. Investigators found evidence that they had repeatedly observed the JC Kosher Supermarket at 223 Martin Luther King Drive in the Greenville neighborhood of Jersey City. The market served the area’s growing Orthodox Jewish community, and a Jewish religious school operated in the same building.
On December 1, 2019, surveillance footage recorded Anderson and Graham practicing with long guns at a shooting range in Austintown, Ohio. Authorities later said they had accumulated multiple firearms, large quantities of ammunition and equipment that suggested they were preparing for sustained violence.
On December 3, 2019, two shots were fired at a vehicle driven by a visibly Jewish person on U.S. Route 1/9 near Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey. The vehicle’s rear window was shattered, although the driver was not killed. Investigators later connected the gunfire to a weapon associated with Anderson and Graham and placed Graham’s telephone in the area at the time.
The Killing of Michael Rumberger
On December 7, 2019, 34-year-old Michael Rumberger was found fatally wounded in the trunk of a Lincoln Town Car in Bayonne, New Jersey. Rumberger had worked as a driver and was reportedly acquainted with Anderson. Evidence discovered after the Jersey City attack connected Anderson and Graham to his death.
Investigators reported that Rumberger’s blood was found on a Bible belonging to the attackers. His DNA was also detected on their clothing and on one of their weapons. Authorities additionally learned that Anderson and Graham had searched online for information concerning the meaning of Rumberger’s surname. Although the precise motive for his killing was not conclusively established publicly, authorities identified Anderson and Graham as the primary suspects.
After Rumberger’s death, Anderson and Graham used a stolen U-Haul van. The vehicle later became a critical connection between the Bayonne homicide and the violence that unfolded in Jersey City three days later.
The Murder of Detective Joseph Seals
Shortly after noon on December 10, 2019, Jersey City Police Detective Joseph Seals encountered Anderson and Graham near their stolen U-Haul van at Bayview Cemetery on Garfield Avenue in Jersey City. Seals was an experienced detective assigned to the department’s CeaseFire Unit and was known for investigating illegal firearms.
The encounter appears to have been unexpected. Authorities believed Seals became suspicious of the van or recognized that it could be connected to criminal activity. Anderson and Graham opened fire, fatally shooting him at the cemetery. A bystander discovered Seals and reported the shooting at approximately 12:38 p.m.
Seals’ intervention disrupted whatever broader plan the attackers may have intended to carry out. Investigators later stated that the pair had researched additional Jewish and law-enforcement targets and possessed enough weapons and ammunition to cause far more casualties.
The Attack on the JC Kosher Supermarket
After killing Detective Seals, Anderson and Graham fled in the U-Haul van and traveled approximately one mile to the JC Kosher Supermarket. Surveillance footage showed the van stopping directly outside the business. The attackers exited carrying firearms and immediately directed their gunfire into the store.
The evidence indicated that the supermarket was deliberately selected because it was a Jewish establishment. Anderson and Graham did not indiscriminately fire at everyone on the surrounding street. Instead, they concentrated their attack on the market and the people inside it.
Anderson entered with an AR-15-style rifle, while Graham was armed with a 12-gauge shotgun. Additional handguns were later recovered from the store. The attackers killed market owner Mindel “Mindy” Ferencz, customer Moshe Deutsch and employee Douglas Miguel Rodriguez. Another customer was wounded but escaped through the rear of the building.
Police officers quickly arrived and exchanged gunfire with Anderson and Graham. The confrontation developed into a prolonged siege lasting for several hours. Hundreds of rounds were reportedly fired as officers attempted to contain the attackers and prevent them from reaching nearby residents, businesses and the religious school in the building.
Two police officers were wounded during the gun battle. Schools and businesses throughout the surrounding neighborhood were placed on lockdown while heavily armed local, state and federal officers responded. Anderson and Graham remained barricaded inside the supermarket until both were killed by police gunfire at approximately 3:45 p.m.
Victims
- Michael Rumberger, 34 — Killed on or about December 7, 2019, in Bayonne, New Jersey. His body was discovered in the trunk of a vehicle. Forensic evidence connected Anderson and Graham to his death.
- Detective Joseph Seals, 40 — Fatally shot on December 10, 2019, at Bayview Cemetery on Garfield Avenue in Jersey City. Seals was a Jersey City police detective, a husband and the father of five children.
- Mindel “Mindy” Ferencz, 31 — Killed on December 10, 2019, inside the JC Kosher Supermarket at 223 Martin Luther King Drive in Jersey City. She was a mother of three and operated the market with her husband.
- Moshe Deutsch, 24 — Killed on December 10, 2019, inside the JC Kosher Supermarket. He was a rabbinical student, community volunteer and customer who had entered the store shortly before the attack.
- Douglas Miguel Rodriguez, 49 — Killed on December 10, 2019, inside the JC Kosher Supermarket. Rodriguez, an immigrant from Ecuador, worked at the market and was remembered as a devoted husband and father.
Weapons and Evidence
Investigators recovered an AR-15-style rifle, a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun and several semiautomatic handguns from the supermarket. Additional weapons, ammunition and a pipe bomb were found in the attackers’ van. The explosive device was not detonated.
Authorities also discovered a handgun equipped with a homemade suppressor and a device intended to catch spent cartridge casings. That weapon was linked to the earlier shooting directed at the Jewish motorist. The quantity of weapons and ammunition indicated that Anderson and Graham were prepared for a lengthy confrontation.
A handwritten note recovered from the van contained antisemitic and anti-police statements. Anderson’s online activity included similar expressions of hatred. Investigators found that the pair had researched Jewish locations, police facilities and potential targets before the massacre.
Motive and Extremist Beliefs
Anderson identified with extremist interpretations associated with the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. Black Hebrew Israelites consist of numerous independent groups with widely differing beliefs, and authorities did not claim that the larger movement directed or supported the attack. Officials emphasized that Anderson and Graham acted from their own violent extremist ideology.
Evidence showed that Anderson believed Jewish people had stolen the heritage and identity of Black people. His writings combined antisemitic conspiracy theories with hostility toward police and government authority. During the supermarket attack, recordings captured Anderson making statements consistent with those beliefs.
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced that the evidence demonstrated acts of hate and domestic terrorism fueled by hatred of Jewish people and law enforcement. The deliberate selection of a kosher market, the earlier attack on a visibly Jewish driver and the attackers’ surveillance of Jewish locations supported that conclusion.
Possible Plans for Additional Violence
Investigators found evidence that Anderson and Graham may have considered attacking other locations, including a Jewish community center in Bayonne. Their searches, reconnaissance and weapons stockpile suggested that the supermarket massacre might have been one part of a larger plan.
The presence of a religious school in the same building as the market created the possibility of a substantially greater death toll. Approximately 50 students were reportedly present in the school during the attack. Police secured the children and prevented the attackers from reaching them.
Authorities believed Detective Seals’ encounter with Anderson and Graham at the cemetery forced the pair to change or accelerate their plans. His actions may therefore have prevented an even larger coordinated assault.
Aftermath
The attack killed Detective Seals and three people inside the supermarket. Anderson and Graham were also killed, bringing the number of deaths in Jersey City to six. When the connected Bayonne homicide of Michael Rumberger is included, the pair were associated with five murdered victims.
The massacre devastated Jersey City’s Jewish community and drew national attention to antisemitic violence in the United States. Funerals and memorial services were held for the victims, while community organizations provided assistance to their families. The supermarket later reopened at a different location.
The attack also resulted in investigations into how Anderson and Graham obtained their firearms. A Jersey City pawnshop owner later pleaded guilty to a federal weapons offense connected to the investigation, although authorities did not accuse him of participating in the massacre itself.
Deaths of the Attackers
David Anderson and Francine Graham died inside the JC Kosher Supermarket on December 10, 2019, after exchanging gunfire with law-enforcement officers for several hours. Because both perpetrators were killed, neither faced a criminal trial for the murders.
A later grand-jury review examined the actions of the officers who fired on Anderson and Graham. The officers were not criminally charged. The evidence showed that police had responded to two heavily armed attackers who had already murdered four people that day and continued firing from a fortified position inside the market.
Legacy of the Case
The Jersey City massacre is remembered as a deliberately targeted act of antisemitic domestic terrorism rather than a spontaneous confrontation. Anderson and Graham prepared for violence, monitored potential targets, accumulated weapons and attacked people because of their Jewish identity or connection to law enforcement.
The case also demonstrated how an apparently isolated homicide, a shooting at a passing vehicle and extremist online statements can form part of a developing pattern of violence. The murders of Michael Rumberger, Detective Joseph Seals, Mindy Ferencz, Moshe Deutsch and Douglas Miguel Rodriguez remain the central human loss of the crime.
