JERSEY CITY, N.J.—Sporadic, heavy gunfire rang out Tuesday over the course of at least an hour in a Jersey City neighborhood.
It was not yet clear if anyone was injured.
SWAT teams and federal agents responded to the scene, and police blocked off the major thoroughfare where the shooting occurred. The area has a Catholic school, some stories, a kosher supermarket and a hair stylist. Phones rang unanswered at several businesses. The Catholic parish, Sacred Heart, has closed, and no one answered at its associated school, which runs from preschool through eighth grade.
Police tactical teams were going through the school, which remained on lockdown, according to scanner traffic.
Jersey City Police said they had no information to provide over the phone on the shooting.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the shooting and was monitoring it.
Loud volleys of gunfire could be heard at regular intervals but subsided around 2 p.m. in the city, which is just across the Hudson River from Manhattan.
Video images show a line of police officers armed with weapons pointed in several directions walking down the sidewalk. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it was responding.
Dozens of bystanders pressed against the police barrier to film the action on cellphones, some whooping when gunfire bursts filled the air.
Andy Patel works at a liquor store about three blocks away from the site of the shooting site and said there had been consistent gunfire fire about an hour Tuesday afternoon.
“I can hear the gunshots. It’s like firecrackers going off. They were shooting like crazy about an hour ago. Then it stopped for like 20 or 30 minutes. The cops were clearing everyone off the streets,” said Patel.
By David Porter
