Cops were hunting for a robbery suspect Monday after one of his alleged accomplices was fatally shot by a cop whom she was trying to run over at a strip mall in New Jersey, authorities said.
Police in Deptford Township responded to a report of a shoplifting in progress at a Marshall’s department store at 1800 Clements Bridge Road at about 3:40 p.m. Saturday and found three suspects who fled the store with a “substantial amount of unpaid merchandise,” according to a statement by Bernie Weisenfeld, a spokesman for the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office.
One of the suspects, Raoul Gadson, 43, of Philadelphia, was struggling with security guards when responding cops approached him. He then fled on foot while his two female alleged accomplices — LaShanda Anderson, 36, and Chanel Barnes, 27, both of Philadelphia — ran toward a rented Nissan Armada, Weisenfeld said.
Officers then told Anderson, who was behind the wheel, to stop, but she instead accelerated toward them and struck a patrol captain with an open driver’s door. Anderson then tried to “deliberately run over” a sergeant, who fired three shots into the Nissan, striking Anderson twice.
The speeding Nissan narrowly missed the second cop and continued across a parking lot before exiting via an access road, Weisenfeld said.
LaShanda AndersonFacebookAnderson was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy later found her cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds.
Barnes was arrested and charged with shoplifting. She remained held at the Salem County Correctional Facility pending a detention hearing, Weisenfeld said.
The sergeant who shot Anderson — a 17-year department veteran — was treated at a hospital before being released. He has since been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into the shooting, Weisenfeld said. The police captain was not hurt. Neither officer was identified.
Gadson, who faces charges of second-degree robbery and assault, remained on the run Monday. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office at (856) 466-6192.
