New Jersey-based U.S. District Judge Esther Salas is calling for more protection against federal judges two weeks after her son was killed and her husband wounded by a gunman in their home.
In a 9-minute YouTube video released Monday, Salas issued a statement stating her son’s death “cannot be in vain.”
Salas said she and her husband, who is still in the hospital recovering from three gunshot wounds, “are living every parent’s worst nightmare” as they prepare to bury their 20-year-old son, Daniel Mark.
“Two weeks ago, my life as I knew it changed in an instant, and my family will never be the same,” Salas said. “A madman, who I believe was targeting me because of my position as a federal judge, came to my house.”
She detailed the incident that left her husband injured and her son dead. She said a “monster” who was later identified as attorney Roy Den Hollander, had a complete dossier on her family, and knew where they lived and where they went to church.
She said the family had just finished celebrating her son’s birthday weekend with some of his friends from the Catholic University of America. Salas said she was chatting with her son in the basement when the doorbell rang and her son ran up to answer the door.
"We were chatting, as we always do. And Daniel said, ‘Mom, let’s keep talking, I love talking to you, Mom.’ It was at that exact moment that the doorbell rang, and Daniel looked at me and said, ‘Who is that?’ And before I could say a word, he sprinted upstairs. Within seconds, I heard the sound of bullets and someone screaming, ‘No!’”
Salas said her son took a bullet in his chest to protect his father. The gunman then shot Salas’ husband three times.
“We are living every parent’s worst nightmare — making preparations to bury our only child, Daniel,” Salas said. “My family has experienced a pain that no one should ever have to endure.”
She then called for change in order to protect judges who have to make tough calls. She asked for the information of federal judges to be removed from the internet and urged law enforcement to do something to protect people in the future to ensure that her son’s death was not in vain.
“But what we cannot accept is when we are forced to live in fear for our lives because personal information, like our home addresses, can be easily obtained by anyone seeking to do us or our families harm,” she stated. “Unfortunately, for my family, the threat was real and the free flow of information from the internet allowed this sick and depraved human being to find all our personal information and target us.”
Den Hollander had a gender-equity lawsuit that was being heard by Salas, according to Fox News.
He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on July 20, the day after the incident, in the town of Rockland in New York’s Sullivan County, according to law enforcement officials.
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