FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (1010 WINS) — A Republican New Jersey council member was fatally shot on Wednesday — the second such killing of a GOP lawmaker in the state in a week — in what officials say was a murder-suicide by a former employee at a PSE&G facility.
Russell D. Heller, 51, a councilman in Milford, was fatally shot outside the PSE&G Somerset Central Division Headquarters in Franklin Township, where he worked as a senior distribution supervisor.
Gary T. Curtis — a 58-year-old former PSE&G employee — shot and killed Heller in the parking lot outside the building on Weston Canal Road around 7 a.m., according to the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office.
Curtis, of Washington, New Jersey, was found by police around 10:20 a.m. with a gun and dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside a Mercedes-Benz at the Bridgewater train station.
The prosecutor's office said Wednesday that the shooting was an "isolated incident" and that Heller was the "intended target."
It wasn't immediately clear what may have precipitated the shooting, but prosecutors said it "was not politically connected with his elected post or party affiliation."
"The Milford Borough Council is deeply saddened by the loss and our hearts go out to his family," Milford Mayor Henri Schepens said. "He was so full of life, it’s just unbelievable that he’s gone. Something like this has never happened in borough history. We are very shaken by this."
"We are heartbroken at the tragic death of Russell Heller, senior distribution supervisor at PSE&G," the company said Wednesday in a statement. "Russell was an admired employee and a supervisor with over 11 years of service with PSE&G. He will be sorely missed by all and our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time. This event is tragic and disturbing and we are offering support to our employees as they process this."
The shootings remain under investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office at 908-231-7100 or the Franklin Township Police Department at 732-873-5533.
Heller's killing came just one week after Sayreville councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, 30, was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds on Feb. 1 in an SUV outside her home on Samuel Circle at Camelot at La Mer, a housing development near the Garden State Parkway.
A motive behind Dwumfour's killing remains unclear at this time. An investigation is ongoing.
Democratic Mayor Victoria Kilpatrick asked the public for help, with her murder still unsolved, in a note passed out at Dwumfour's memorial service on Wednesday.
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