A man that law enforcement officials believe shot the son and husband of U.S. District Judge Esther Salas at her home in New Jersey has been found dead in an apparent suicide.
Authorities believe that Roy Den Hollander, a self-described “anti-feminist” lawyer, was the person who carried out the attack which resulted in the death of Salas’ son, 20-year-old Catholic University student Daniel Anderl.
“In one of his most recent cases, he openly seethed against a federal judge in New Jersey, Esther Salas, whom he described in a self-published, 1,700-page book as ‘a lazy and incompetent Latina judge appointed by Obama,'” The New York Times reported. “Mr. Den Hollander left the case, in which he challenged the male-only United States military draft, last summer, telling a lawyer who replaced him that he had terminal cancer.”
The New York State Police found Den Hollander’s body nearly two hours away from where the attack happened and they believe that he committed suicide. Investigators were considering the possibility that his motive was that he wanted to take out his perceived enemies before he died from cancer.
Law enforcement said that the suspect showed up to Salas’ home wearing what was described as a FedEx uniform when he rang the doorbell.
“Two law enforcement officials, cautioning that the investigation was in its earliest stages, said federal authorities were examining whether Mr. Den Hollander might be linked to the July 11 killing of another men’s rights lawyer, Marc Angelucci, in San Bernardino County, Calif,” the Times added. “Mr. Angelucci was shot at his front door by a gunman wearing a FedEx uniform, one of the officials said.”
The case drew intense national interest not only because the appeared to target a federal judge, but because the judge had been assigned a case last week involving Deutsche Bank in which a group of investors alleged “the firm failed to flag questionable transactions that were made from the account of the financier Jeffrey Epstein, who died last August while in jail awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges,” the Times reported separately.
Numerous other mainstream publications noted in their reports on the attack that Salas had been assigned the case involving Epstein and Deutsche Bank.
“This month, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay a $150m fine for compliance failures in its dealings with Epstein, a convicted sex offender, as well as Danske Bank Estonia and FBME Back,” The Financial Times reported. “A few days later, plaintiffs led by Ali Karimi filed the lawsuit that is being overseen by Judge Salas.”
One of Salas’ neighbors, Marion Costanza, told The New York Times that Salas was reportedly concerned that being a public figure could make her a target.
“She had some high-profile cases, and she was always a little concerned,” Costanza said, later adding praise for the family, “There’s no one like them. They’re extremely good-natured. They would do anything for anyone.”