{"id":194752,"date":"2026-04-12T22:50:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/194752\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T22:50:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:50:21","slug":"1-dead-in-nj-chick-fil-a-mass-shooting-after-masked-gunmen-storm-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/194752\/","title":{"rendered":"1 dead in NJ Chick-fil-A mass shooting after masked gunmen storm restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"

One person has died <\/a>in Saturday\u2019s \u201cwar zone\u201d mass shooting at a Chick-fil-A in Union Township, NJ, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

Officials said six other people suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the attack \u2014 which has the grim distinction of being the 100th mass shooting in the US so far this year.<\/p>\n

The Union\u00a0County Prosecutor\u2019s Office said the shooting \u201cdoes not appear to be a random act of violence.\u2019\u2019 But it did not offer a motive for the violence.<\/p>\n

No arrests have yet been made, and authorities are still hunting down<\/a> the perpetrator or perpetrators, officials said.<\/p>\n

The bloody incident unfolded just before 9 p.m. at the fast-food chain\u2019s Route 22 location, which was locked down Sunday as investigators continued to comb the scene for evidence.<\/p>\n

A man who said his girlfriend works at the location told CBS <\/a>that a group of masked men barged into the restaurant and fired multiple shots after forcing their way behind the counter.<\/p>\n

One worker\u2019s father described the scene as a \u201cwar zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

At least one person has been killed in a Saturday evening shooting inside a New Jersey Chick-fil-A, according to the Union County Prosecutor\u2019s Office. Dakota Santiago (FreedomNewsTV)<\/p>\n

Dramatic video from the shooting showed a masked gunman sprinting away from the eatery through the parking lot, with the dashcam also picking up several terrified customers fleeing for their lives.<\/p>\n

Detectives were spotted entering and leaving the Chick-fil-A location Sunday afternoon, but none of them were willing to speak.<\/p>\n

Several men in hazmat suits were carrying cardboard boxes with big orange \u201cbiohazard\u201d stickers on them.<\/p>\n

Masked gunmen were captured on dashcam footage fleeing the scene. @ghazish_ via Storyful<\/p>\n

A Lyft driver named Martin said he heard at least seven shots as he drove by while finishing a trip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI finished my trip over there, in the return zone. I heard the shots. When I finished the trip, I go to Chick-fil-A to buy two burgers \u2014 I see the police, I heard the shots very close,\u201d he told ABC7.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Ben Wegner, who was working at Botera Cannabis across the street from the shooting, told CBS News, \u201cLast night, around 8:20 p.m., 8:25 p.m., there was a lot of commotion on 22, a lot of people running in all sorts of different directions. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came in this morning to review some of the footage, it was craziness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Six others were injured in the horrific ambush. Dakota Santiago (FreedomNewsTV)<\/p>\n

The bloodshed marked the country\u2019s 100th mass shooting \u2014 or violent event where four or more people are wounded or killed \u2014 since the beginning of the year, according to the Gun Violence Archive.<\/p>\n

The most recent past three years in which data was available \u2014 2023, 2022 and 2021 \u2014 all reached the horrific milestone by March.<\/p>\n

State Attorney General Jennifer Davenport wrote in a post on X on Sunday morning, \u201cI am horrified by the shooting last night in Union Township. <\/p>\n

\u201cLocal law enforcement, led by the Union County Prosecutor\u2019s Office, is investigating the shooting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur thoughts are with the victims and their families. Gun violence has no place in our state, period.\u201d<\/p>\n

The prosecutor\u2019s office is asking the public to submit tips by phone at 908-654-TIPS (8477) or online at\u00a0www.uctip.org<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 noting that tips resulting in an indictment and conviction can be eligible for a reward up to $10,000 via Union County Crime Stoppers.<\/p>\n

Neither Union Township Police nor the UCPO\u2019s office returned Post requests for comment Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One person has died in Saturday\u2019s \u201cwar zone\u201d mass shooting at a Chick-fil-A in Union Township, NJ, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6596,7459,57,1066,9,11,10,58],"class_list":["post-194752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-chick-fil-a","tag-mass-shootings","tag-metro","tag-new-jersey","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}