The twenty-year-old son of a federal judge was shot dead by a gunman disguised as a FedEx driver.  The judge’s husband was also critically injured in an ambush on their home just days after the judge was assigned a case that was linked to Jeffrey Epstein.

The Daily Mail reports:

The attack happened at the home of Esther Salas, 51, an Obama-appointed District Court judge, in North Brunswick, New Jersey, on Sunday evening.

The judge’s 20-year-old son Daniel Anderl was killed, and her defense attorney husband Mark Anderl, 63, was critically injured. 

Daniel, who was the couple’s only child, is believed to have opened the door to the gunman at around 5pm. He was shot ‘in the heart’ immediately, according to friends of the family. 

His father Mark was then shot several times when he went to the front door to see what had happened. The gunman fled. 

Correction- Any info please call @FBINewark at 1-973-792-3000https://t.co/KSQVJS525B

— FBI Newark (@FBINewark) July 20, 2020

That’s not all.  The DM goes on to point out that the judge had been assigned a civil financial fraud case that is tied to Jeffrey Epstein.

Suicide or Suicided? Jeffrey Epstein’s Private Wealth Banker Found Dead By Hanging

The case sees investors suing Deutsche Bank and its CEO Christian Sewing, alleging the bank made false and misleading statements before it agreed to pay a $150 million fine for compliance failures linked to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, and seeks unspecified damages.

It claims shareholders lost money because of Deutsche Bank’s dealings with Epstein, who was implicated in dozens of sexual abuse cases. He died in custody last August at the age of 66.

New York regulators last week announced Deutsche Bank would pay the fine for ‘significant compliance failures’ over Epstein and two unrelated cases.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the lawsuit. Last week, it said the settlement showed ‘how important it is to continue investing in our controls and enhancing our anti-financial crime capabilities’.

The lawsuit also names as defendants Deutsche Bank’s finance chief James von Moltke and former CEO John Cryan.

The named plaintiff is Ali Karimi, who lives in Connecticut, according to court documents.

It’s unclear if the judge was the actual target in the attack.  It’s also unclear at this point as to whether her husband, who is a criminal defense attorney, was the target.

Threats have increased against federal judges, according to Heavy.

Threats and “inappropriate communications” against federal judges numbered 4,449 in 2019, CNN reported, adding that such threats have escalated in recent years.

There are about 2,700 federal judges in the country.

In 2005, a man upset that U.S. District Court Judge Joan Lefkow dismissed his lawsuit murdered her mother and husband in Illinois.

From 1979 to April 2020, only three federal judges had been murdered in the United States: Judge John Wood, Judge Richard Daronco and Judge Robert Vance, according to CNN.

The suspect remains at large.

New Jersey Globe reported that the judge had been the target of threats but didn’t specify the nature of the threats. However, ABC News quoted the mayor of North Brunswick as saying, “As a judge, she had threats from time to time, but everyone is saying that recently there had not been any.” My Central New Jersey reported that a neighbor provided video to authorities, that the block was crawling with agents after the shootings and that the hospital was locked down.

The U.S. Marshals are working with state and local authorities, as well as the FBI to locate the gunman. FBI officials are asking anyone with information to contact 1-973-792-3000.