Judge’s nightmare
Tells of son’s last words be ore ‘monster’ struck
A Newark federal judge whose son was killed and husband wounded by a crazed gunman disguised as a FedEx driver emotionally recounted her last moments with her only child in a video posted online Monday.
“Two weeks ago, my life as I knew it changed in an instant, and my family will never be the same,” Judge Esther Salas says in the video posted to YouTube.
After the stunning July 19 attack on Salas’ family in New Jersey, the body of the accused gunman, lawyer Roy Den Hollander, was found in upstate New York, victim of an apparent suicide. He is described as an anti-feminist lawyer, and officials said Salas had recently presided over one of his cases.
That morning, the Salas family was getting ready to clean up after a party held to celebrate her son Daniel’s 20th birthday.
“Daniel always wanted to spend his birthdays with his dad and me, so he asked that we host a party for a few of his Catholic University of America friends,” she explains in the video.
Despite the pandemic, they agreed.
“We thought we could adhere to safety guidelines,” she says.
After going to church with her husband, Salas said she went alone to the basement to wake up her son.
“We were chatting, as we always do, and Daniel said, ‘Mom, let’s keep talking. I love talking to you, Mom,’ ” Salas says, struggling to hold back tears. “And it was at that exact moment that the doorbell rang.”
Her son ran upstairs. Moments later, she heard gunshots and screams.
“I later learned that this monster, who had a FedEx package in his hand, opened fire,” she says in the video, her voice shaking. “But Daniel, being Daniel, protected his father, and he took the shooter’s first bullet directly to the chest.”
Her son later died. Her husband, Mark Anderl, a 63-yearold criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, was shot three times, she explains. One bullet struck his chest, another his stomach, and the third his right forearm.
“While my husband is still in the hospital recovering from his multiple surgeries, we are living every parent’s worst nightmare,” she says, pausing for a moment before adding: “Making preparations to bury our only child, Daniel.”
Salas noted the gunman was easily able to find her personal information online. She then pleads for lawmakers to help protect the private details of federal judges, so no one else suffers the same fate as she and her family.
“My son’s death cannot be in vain, which is why I am begging those in power to do something to help my brothers and sisters on the bench,” she pleads.