Hundreds of police from New Jersey and New York, including tactical officers, were deployed during the hours-long shooting in Jersey City, New Jersey
Hundreds of police from New Jersey and New York, including tactical officers, were deployed during the hours-long shooting in Jersey City, New Jersey Afp / Kena Betancur

The two suspected shooters in Tuesday’s Jersey City rampage have been identified, with one possibly being affiliated with a hate group.

Police sources told NBC News 4 in New York that the alleged shooters are David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50. The pair, who were killed in the shooting, is suspected of opening fire at the JC Kosher Supermarket in a shootout that killed four people, one of whom was a police officer. Given a potential link from Anderson’s past and an anti-Semitic manifesto, the incident is being investigated as a potential hate crime.

Sources close to the investigation say that Anderson at one point was affiliated with the Black Hebrew Israelites, a group composed of black Americans who believe themselves to be descended from ancient Israelites. While they follow some Judaic principles, they are not considered Jewish by mainstream Judaism. The group also espouses the belief that white Jews are “devilish impostors” and “openly condemn whites as evil personified, deserving only death or slavery.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has officially designated the Black Hebrew Israelites as a hate group.

“Around the country, thousands of men and women have joined black supremacist groups on the extremist fringe of the Hebrew Israelite movement, a black nationalist theology that dates back to the 19th century,” the SPLC describes. “Its doctrine asserts that African Americans are God's true chosen people because they, not the people known to the world today as Jews, are the real descendants of the Hebrews of the Bible.”

"The group is not known for committing mass acts of violence. It doesn’t have a record of violence that white supremacists have in the United States," Heidi Beirich, the director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, told the New York Times.

Some type of religious writing was reportedly found in the stolen U-Haul van that Anderson and Graham reportedly used, though this has not been confirmed by police.

Neighbors have described Anderson as having “coerced” Graham into a “militant religion” after they became acquainted.

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