Camden County Police Patrols Asked To Work In Teams As Search For Suspects In Shooting Of Officers' Home Continues
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -- All Camden County Police patrols are being asked to work in teams with a partner to enhance safety while the manhunt for the suspects who shot into two officers' home continues. The suspects were caught on camera opening fire on the home the two officers share with their newborn baby.
The shooting happened just before midnight Tuesday on the 2900 block of Clinton Street in East Camden.
"That don't really happen around here too often," neighbor Josh Hudson said. "It's pretty quiet out here."
Surveillance cameras captured two people in a 1998 Honda Odyssey firing multiple rounds into the home.
The two officers and their baby were not injured in the incident and the officers remain on family and medical leave. They have worked for the department for four years and two years, respectively.
"They're shaken up. They're scared," Camden County Freeholder Director Louis Cappelli said. "These are people who dedicated their lives to the City of Camden, grew up there, bought a home there and their dream to be police officers in the city they grew up has been met and now they have this to deal with. It's just unthinkable."
The Camden County police chief says he two officers have dedicated their lives to protecting Camden, adding the shooters attacked them because of it.
"The whole neighborhood knows that they're police officers. These gunmen went directly to their house and shot this house up and targeted," Police Chief Joseph Wysocki said.
Nathan Link, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University-Camden, said 50 years of data in America shows police killings have been declining in recent years.
"I wouldn't use this one instance as ammunition for an argument that there's a war against police," he said.
The suspect vehicle was located but the suspects remain on the loose. Police believe at least two people were involved in this drive-by shooting.
Authorities say the area around the home will continue to have a presence until the gunmen are caught.
Anyone with information about the incident is being urged to contact police at 856-757-7420. A $62,500 reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction of the suspects.
CBS3's Matt Petrillo contributed to this report.
