Fair Lawn, NJ officer killed in shootout

News 12 ^ | 04.18.03

[Coleus]

Fair Lawn officer killed in shootout
Play the video (04/18/03) BERGEN - A manhunt involving numerous law enforcement agencies was launched on Thursday night after a shootout in Bergen County ended with one police officer dead and another wounded. Fair Lawn Police Officer Maryann Collura was helping a Clifton officer who was involved in a car chase on Thursday night. The Clifton officer was chasing a red sports car that was eventually stopped on a church's front lawn. Authorities say when the officers tried to arrest the people in the car, at least one of the suspects and the Clifton officer exchanged gunfire. Collura was shot four times and killed.  She was the department's first female officer and had served in Fair Lawn since 1985. The Clifton officer was rushed to the hospital and had to undergo surgery.

[Coleus]

Suspect took Officer's Patrol car and Fled to Paterson. Morlot Ave. and River Rd. (Fairlawn)is just over the bridge from Paterson, Passaic County, NJ's third-largest city. The Clifton police officer who assisted will live.

[Coleus]

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[firewalk]

Good morning, thanks for the ping

[facedown]

Two N.J. Police Officers Shot

The Associated Press

April 18, 2003, 8:11 AM EDT

FAIR LAWN, N.J. -- A borough police officer was killed and a Clifton officer was wounded after a car chase that went through two counties and ended on the lawn of a Baptist church.

Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli confirmed early Friday that the Fair Lawn officer, Maryann Collura, 43, had died after being shot four times. The lifelong borough resident was the department's first woman officer, having joined the force in 1985 after serving as a special officer for more than two years.

The Clifton officer, who was not identified, was shot twice but was expected to survive. He was undergoing surgery at St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, according to Amelia Duggan, a hospital spokeswoman, but further details were not immediately available.

Molinelli declined to provide descriptions of the suspects, who remained at large early Friday. He said officers from several state and local law enforcement agencies in New Jersey and the New York City Police Department were involved in the manhunt.

Shortly after the shootings occurred, three men were detained after a massive door-to-door search in a three-block area of Paterson. No charges were filed against the men and they were later released, but police continued their extensive search, going door-to-door to search homes and vehicles in the area.

Molinelli said the chase began in Clifton late Thursday night and went through several towns before Fair Lawn police were notified around 10 p.m. that the fleeing red sports car had entered their jurisdiction. He said at least two suspects were in the vehicle, but it was not immediately clear why the car was being pursued by the Clifton officer.

A few minutes after the notification call, the driver apparently lost control of the car and it went up on the front lawn of the Van Riper Ellis/Broadway Baptist Church. Moments later, Collura arrived on the scene to assist the Clifton officer.

Molinelli said two suspects -- and possibly a third -- then ran from the vehicle to a parking lot in the back of the church, where one of the suspects was briefly apprehended. However, several shots soon rang out and the suspects fled after the officers were wounded.

The number of shots fired in the exchange was not immediately known, but Molinelli said the Clifton officer and at least one of the suspects were involved in the gun battle. Collura was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, but it was not known if she died before reaching the facility.

"There was firing back on both sides, but we don't know if any of the suspects were hit," he said during an early morning news conference.

The suspects then fled the scene and at least one of them drove off in Collura's patrol car, which was later found abandoned about four miles away in Paterson.

While authorities quickly blocked off the area where the car was found and began an intensive search there, numerous officers continued to search for evidence at the church. Authorities, though, would not say whether any weapons or other evidence had been found at either location.

[FreePaul]

Molinelli declined to provide descriptions of the suspects,

Guess they really aren't too anxious to find them.

[JimRed]

How the HELL did the perps outshoot the LEO's?

[blau993]

Sounds like the cops may have been out-gunned.

[toddst]

How the HELL did the perps outshoot the LEO's?

Many (most) police officers are poorly trained in use of their weapons. The pressure from a serious engagement causes vulnerability to panic, as opposed to reverting to training.

[Jersey Kid]

It all happened a block away from my house, on the grounds of the Baptist church, near the kindergarden.

Choppers were in the air all night long.
Probably close to 200 cops from Fair Lawn, Clifton, Paramus, Paterson, State troopers and Bergen Country police were and still are on the scene...
Good part of Fair Lawn and all the exits towards paterson are blocked off with police checkpoints
Since the car parts are on the sidewalk, a few hundred yards from the actual shooting location, I bet it was a wild chase scene last night.

[Centurion2000]

How the HELL did the perps outshoot the LEO's?

If you've ever been to a pistol range and seen a cop shoot, you'd know .... most of them aren't very good.

[facedown]

How the HELL did the perps outshoot the LEO's?

From the NY Post account:

"I heard eight or nine gunshots. I walk outside and I see a cop car go flying by," a Fair Lawn resident told The Post.

If the surviving cop got hit twice and the DOA cop four times, the inference would be that the LEO's only got off two or three rounds to the bad guys six. "Ear"witness accounts, however, are highly unreliable.

[Jersey Kid]

Cops are not really use to stuff like that in FairLawn.
It's a nice middle class/upper middle class town with great schools and stuff.
Paterson though is right across the river, but even the part of Paterson that is bordering Fair Lawn is not that bad (comparing to downtown Paterson).
It's might be the first shootout with police in FairLawn's history.
I barely heard a police siren in 6 years that I've been living here.

[Jersey Kid]

I heard the surviving cop was shot 3 times, twice in the leg, and once in an arm.
The officer that died was shot 4 times.
There had to be more than 8 -9 shots fired

[BluH2o]

Molinelli declined to provide descriptions of the suspects ...

Well, I'm guessing ... but that makes the perps black. In our ever so sensitive PC world you have to read between the lines.

[Jersey Kid]

Concidering that the chase started in Clifton and the purps diched the getaway car in Paterson...
99% chance that they are black.
also small chance that they are middle eastern descent, as those towns also have a large middle-eastern populations.

[waterstraat]

How the HELL did the perps outshoot the LEO's?

The cops today are not like the cops of yesteryear(who usually never needed more than 6 bullets). The cops today carry a gun only because it is part of the job, many of them never even owned or fired a gun before they became a cop, and are not pro-gun. Most cops today do not know how to shoot very well, and do not handle guns safely. Cops today rely on high capacity magazines and spray and pray, not worrying about where all their misses will go or what innocents behind the targets will get shot. I have seen many young police cadets come in to get their guns registered, and they didnt know the first thing about guns - and didnt seem to care either. Most of them barley qualify, and dont practice or shoot guns any more than they have to.

There are also some police departments who boycott NRA sanctioned shooting training events/courses - as a political policy against guns.

I have seen a big city police "pistol team" who could not shoot a 12 inch plate more than 2 out of 6 times at 10 yards.

No police deparment will choose a capable middle aged layed off IT worker who might have sound judgement and excellent abilities as a cop, instead of a young immature college student who doesnt know squat.

[facedown]

There had to be more than 8 -9 shots fired

As I wrote: "ear"witness accounts are highly unreliable, yet here's another witness from NorthJersey.com:

Fair Lawn resident Michelle Samolis told WCBS-TV news that she heard eight to 10 popping noises around the time the officers were shot.

In a rapid-fire situation, it is very difficult to estimate the number of shots fired, even by an expert let alone a disinterested bystander.

Also, if the cops and the bad guys happened to fire a round simultaneously it would sound like one shot.

[BluH2o]

Live in the midwest now, however, I lived for a number of years in SW CT. My travels in business allowed me to become very familiar with the NE in general and with the northern half of NJ in particular. I estimate I've crossed the Hudson River (Tappan Zee & GW Bridges) over 1000 times. Anyway, I know the demographics ... so it wasn't a great leap in determining the racial profile of the perps.

[jmc813]

My father is a former police Sergeant in Montvale (Bergen County), and is now a real estate agent. One of his current clients was friends with the officer killed. Prayers for her family and for justice for the scumbag who killed her.

[riverrunner]

Most cops are lousy shots. Most do not train other then what is mandated. Most do not have the correct mind set to win a fight. Most are surprise to think some one would actual like to kill them.