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.
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