Judge Esther Salas family shooting: Suspect Roy Hollander may have been hunting enemies after cancer diagnosis
Men's rights lawyer, Roy Den Hollander, suspected of fatally shooting federal Judge Esther Salas' son and critically wounding her husband, may have been hunting down enemies after he was diagnosed with cancer. Reports state that Hollander could also be associated with the July 11 killing of another attorney in California. Hollander, 72, who allegedly stormed into Judge Salas' home in North Brunswick, New Jersey, on Sunday, July 19, dressed as a FedEx driver, was found dead in an apparent suicide early Monday, July 20, in Sullivan County, nearly two hours' drive from the Salas' residence.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who was probing the case, contacted New York Chief Judge Janet DiFiore shortly after Hollander's death. The New York Times stated that DiFiore's name and photo were found in the suspect's car. It is not yet clear whether the FBI believed DiFiore was a possible target. Officials are also probing a possible link to the shooting of Marc Angelucci, an attorney, who was shot in his California home earlier this month. Angelucci was allegedly gunned down in a FedEx uniform too, according to the outlet.
Hollander reportedly wrote about his cancer diagnosis and revenge fantasies in an online speech. “Death’s hand is on my left shoulder...nothing in this life matters anymore,” he wrote in a manifesto. “The only problem with a life lived too long under Feminazi rule is that a man ends up with so many enemies he can’t even the score with all of them.” The 72-year-old, in an email to reporters in January this year, had said that he was "painfully dying from metastasized cancer". Hollander was known for filing frivolous lawsuits and misogynistic screeds about the “infringement of Men’s Rights by the Feminists,” his website states. The attorney reportedly had one recent case in front of Salas which involved a challenge to the US military’s men-only draft. Hollander, however, removed himself from his case after he was diagnosed with cancer, reports state.
Judge Salas' son, Daniel Anderl, a student at Catholic University in Washington, DC, reportedly died on the spot, while her defense attorney husband, Mark Anderl, 63, was critically injured and is currently in Robert Wood Johnson Hospital. He is believed to be stable now. The mayor of North Brunswick, New Jersey, Francis 'Mac' Womack, who is friends with the Salas family, in a statement, said that Daniel was "shot through the heart." He added that the judge had previously received threats but there had not been a recent one.
"As a judge, she had threats from time to time, but everyone is saying that recently there had not been any," the mayor told ABC News. "No words can express the sadness and loss we share tonight as a community after senseless shootings of the husband and son of USDC Judge Esther Salas." He added that the investigators are now "trying to get a hard make on the vehicle" to track the suspect. "We commit to do all we can to support the family in this time, as well as all law enforcement agencies involved."