The Grudge

On a warm summer Friday evening in 2020, Federal Judge Esther Salas, her husband Mark Andel, and their son Daniel were celebrating Daniel's 20th birthday in a socially distanced way. The following Sunday, July 19th, around 5 PM, Daniel and his mother were cleaning up the basement, sharing a special, albeit fleeting, moment. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

The Attack

Curious, Daniel shot up the stairs to answer the door. Esther Salas recalls hearing a loud bang, a sound she had never heard before, followed by rapid gunfire. She screamed and ran up the stairs, preparing herself for the worst. What she saw was just as bad: Daniel lying on the floor by the front door, and her husband Mark crawling on the porch, trying to catch a glimpse of the attacker's license plate as he drove away. Mark was screaming, "Call 911!"

Patrol officers with the North Brunswick Police Department arrived within minutes. Deputy Chief Joseph Battaglia, who was at a family picnic when he got the call, was surprised. Shootings are rare in North Brunswick, and this one was at the home of a federal judge. Battaglia was informed that two individuals were shot, and it was the house of Judge Salas. Judge Esther Salas was the first Latina federal judge to preside in New Jersey, appointed by President Obama in 2011.

Battaglia quickly learned it was Salas's husband Mark, a defense attorney, and their son Daniel, who had been shot. When the first responding officers arrived, Daniel had a pulse and was breathing. They administered basic first aid. Mark was surprisingly talking, sitting up, and tending to Daniel. EMTs raced Mark and Daniel to the hospital. Officers secured the home, the perimeter, and set up a canvas of the area. A neighbor next door, who had very good information, said he saw an individual: white male, tall, thin, wearing a mask, had a FedEx messenger bag, got into a silver or blue Nissan Sentra, and fled the area.