What to Know
- There is a growing mystery surrounding a shooting incident in the New Jersey office of Newark’s former public safety director, who is now a powerful consultant.
- The circumstances of what happened at the Ambrose Group office building last Friday evening are shrouded in secrecy.
- The Essex County Prosecutor’s office will only say that one of the most powerful figures in law enforcement, Anthony Ambrose, suffered a self-inflicted accidental gunshot wound to his foot. But questions remain: whose gun was it -- and was it registered?
There is a growing mystery surrounding a shooting incident in the New Jersey office of Newark’s former public safety director, who is now a powerful consultant.
The circumstances of what happened at the Ambrose Group office building last Friday evening are shrouded in secrecy. The Essex County Prosecutor’s office will only say that one of the most powerful figures in law enforcement, Anthony Ambrose, suffered a self-inflicted accidental gunshot wound to his foot. But questions remain: whose gun was it -- and was it registered?
Several people tell News 4 New York they saw Cedar Grove Police Chief John Kennedy in police headquarters Tuesday morning, but by afternoon no one could tell us when he’ll be back. His department is in the middle of an investigation into the accidental discharge of a gun at the nearby office of the Ambrose Group last Friday evening -- a shooting that ended up hitting Ambrose in the foot.
However, details of the incident are murky. Apparently, Chief of Detectives for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Mitchell McGuire was the one who called the police department. Law enforcement sources say Kennedy responded, along with other officers, some wearing bodycams. McGuire was still at the scene, but Ambrose was gone -- allegedly driven by an unknown person to the hospital. The gun was recovered.
Questions surrounding a possible conflict of interest have arisen when it comes to Kennedy leading the incident investigation. However, there seems to be confusion about who is investigating.
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The Attorney General’s Office said it is not investigating but law enforcement sources tell the I-Team two investigators from the Attorney General's Office of Public Integrity Unit were at the Cedar Grove Police Department Monday inquiring about the bodycam video and other information.
News
Those same sources say McGuire is on the bodycam video. The Essex County Prosecutor’s Office is declining to say if he actually witnessed the shooting incident.
“There is no current internal affairs inquiry into McGuire’s conduct," a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said.
McGuire declined to comment on the incident. The I-Team was unable to reach Ambrose.
