FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, N.J. (PIX11) — Investigators in Somerset County, New Jersey, are still searching for a motive after a former PSE&G employee shot and killed a current employee before taking his own life, authorities said.
In a statement, the company called the events “tragic.”
Authorities said 51-year-old Russell Heller, a senior distribution supervisor who had been with the company for 11 years, was shot dead outside his car at 7 a.m. Wednesday.
Franklin Township police and crime scene investigators with the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office taped off and collected evidence from the parking lot of power provider PSE&G’s Central Division headquarters.
Heller was shot dead first thing in the morning, authorities said. The call originally went out as a search for an active shooter, but officers quickly located a silver Mercedes in a parking lot near TD Bank Ballpark in neighboring Bridgewater. The body of 58-year-old Gary Curtis was found inside.
Authorities said that Curtis, a former PSE&G employee, appears to have shot himself after killing Heller.
Police were still searching for a motive. PSE&G gave no indication of what if any working relationship the two men had.
Authorities said a preliminary investigation has shown the shooting was an isolated incident, and that Heller was the intended target.