Officer among ´multiple´ dead in shooting near New York

NEW JERSEY: A shooting in a New York suburb not far from the Statue of Liberty left a police officer dead on Tuesday, and reports said several other people may have been killed during two hours of gunfire.

The local prosecutor said that one officer was killed and three other people -- two of them police -- had been wounded in Jersey City, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York.

Local media  reported that the death toll may have reached six, including two people suspected of firing on officers from a grocery store.

"We can confirm there´s multiple deceased inside the building," Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said.

Media reports said the Jersey City shooting began when an officer, investigating a homicide, approached the store, which is near a synagogue and a school. Hundreds of rounds were fired in the ensuing shootout.

The incident is the latest high-profile shooting in the United States, where firearms were linked to nearly 40,000 deaths of various kinds in 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.