DOVER TOWNSHIP, New Jersey (AP) -- A veteran police officer went on a rampage in two New Jersey towns, killing five of his neighbors and wounding two people, police said.
Authorities were searching early Wednesday for Edward Lutes, a Seaside Heights police officer for 15 years. He remained at large in a blue 1995 Buick Regal.
"We do believe he's armed with firearms," said Dover Township Police Chief Michael Mastronardy.
The shootings started in Dover Township around 10 p.m. Tuesday in two homes.
Two of the unidentified victims were in a house located next door to Lutes' home and the other three victims were in a house across the street.
A sixth person was wounded and taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River. It was not immediately known where the victim was at the time of the shooting.
Lutes later went to nearby Barnegat Township and shot Seaside Heights Police Chief James Costello, Mastronardy said. He was hospitalized in stable condition at Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune.
Mastronardy and Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Gregory Sakowicz could not give a motive for the shootings.
When asked if Lutes might be going after other targets, Mastronardy said all precautions have been taken for anyone who could be a threat.
Doug Mayday, 37, who also lives in Lutes' neighborhood, said he was driving when a police officer in riot gear ran out of bushes and waved him through. He also saw police with rifles drawn in the vicinity of the shooting.
The initial shootings happened about a mile from the street where a retired police officer is accused of killing four people in February.
John E. Mabie is charged with four counts of murder, accused of killing his granddaughter and three neighbors on February 21 as he went from house to house firing a revolver.
"It's just a sad time for the community," Mastronardy said.
Authorities were searching early Wednesday for Edward Lutes, a Seaside Heights police officer for 15 years. He remained at large in a blue 1995 Buick Regal.
"We do believe he's armed with firearms," said Dover Township Police Chief Michael Mastronardy.
The shootings started in Dover Township around 10 p.m. Tuesday in two homes.
Two of the unidentified victims were in a house located next door to Lutes' home and the other three victims were in a house across the street.
A sixth person was wounded and taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River. It was not immediately known where the victim was at the time of the shooting.
Lutes later went to nearby Barnegat Township and shot Seaside Heights Police Chief James Costello, Mastronardy said. He was hospitalized in stable condition at Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune.
Mastronardy and Assistant Ocean County Prosecutor Gregory Sakowicz could not give a motive for the shootings.
When asked if Lutes might be going after other targets, Mastronardy said all precautions have been taken for anyone who could be a threat.
Doug Mayday, 37, who also lives in Lutes' neighborhood, said he was driving when a police officer in riot gear ran out of bushes and waved him through. He also saw police with rifles drawn in the vicinity of the shooting.
The initial shootings happened about a mile from the street where a retired police officer is accused of killing four people in February.
John E. Mabie is charged with four counts of murder, accused of killing his granddaughter and three neighbors on February 21 as he went from house to house firing a revolver.
"It's just a sad time for the community," Mastronardy said.