New Jersey

Mystery swirls after NJ neighbor shoots husband, wife — then kills self in SWAT standoff

The husband and wife were taken to a hospital in critical condition, while the neighbor was later found dead in an upstairs bedroom of his own home

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Ongoing tensions between neighbors at the Jersey Shore turned deadly. A married couple remains in critical but stable condition after they were shot yesterday afternoon. Authorities say the man who pulled the trigger was found dead after a standoff with police. NBC10 Jersey Shore reporter Ted Greenberg has the details. 

Authorities are investigating the case of a neighbor who allegedly shot a husband and wife, then retreated to his home and took his own life in a two-and-a-half-hour standoff that ended with SWAT blasting open his front door.

No possible motive was immediately shared in the case, which left the husband and wife hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday. They were not immediately identified.

Police identified the alleged shooter as 54-year-old John Adamo. They say he opened fire Monday evening in the quiet Jersey Shore community of Berkeley Township, near the corner of Drake Drive and Amherst Drive, near Amherst Beach.

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The husband, who had been outside his own home, was wounded. Adamo then allegedly shot into the neighbor's home, striking his wife. It wasn't immediately clear where they were hit.

Then he went back inside his house. SWAT teams surrounded it. Chopper 4 showed police outside the house, then using an explosive to blow the door open and get inside. They found Adamo in an upstairs bedroom, dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

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A pressure cooker was spotted in the bedroom and neighboring homes were evacuated at the time as a precaution, but the device was not determined to have been an explosive.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office is investigating. Township police advised residents to avoid the area.

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