Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said Friday it’s his opinion that the shooters who killed a police officer and three civilians on Tuesday afternoon had an even more sinister objective - killing students at a religious school next door.

“My opinion is that as more info comes out it’ll become increasingly clear that the target was the 50 children at the Yeshiva attached to that store,” the mayor wrote on Twitter just after 8 a.m. “We will never know 100% but the doorway to the yeshiva was 3 feet away (and) it seems he goes in that direction 1st.”

Authorities say David Anderson, 47, and Francine Graham, 50, shot and killed a Jersey City police detective in a nearby cemetery before traveling in a van to the grocery store on Martin Luther King Drive, where they gunned down two Orthodox Jews as well as an employee. A fourth person escaped.

My opinion is that as more info comes out it’ll become increasingly clear that the target was the 50 children at the Yeshiva attached to that store. We will never know 100% but the doorway to the yeshiva was 3 feet away + it seems he goes in that direction 1st — Steven Fulop (@StevenFulop) December 13, 2019

Two police officers were injured as Anderson and Graham exchanged gunfire with officers for more than three hours.

Jersey City public safety director James Shea agreed that the shooters planned to cause additional harm.

“Everything about it is consistent with the (the notion) that they didn’t intent to harm only four people - that they had a larger plan,” Shea said at City Hall on Friday morning. “Based on the amount of guns, the amount of ammunition, the amount of explosive devices we would have to assume they planned to do a lot more damage than we allowed them to do. The actions of those officers saved lives."

Jersey Public Safety Director James Shea tells reporters that shooters planned to do a lot more damage. pic.twitter.com/ocMbooIkCf — Rebecca Panico (@BeccaPanico) December 13, 2019

On Thursday, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said the shooters’ attack was motivated by hate and possibly an act of domestic terrorism.

While the shooters “expressed interest" in hate groups such as the Black Hebrew Israelites, investigators said it appears they acted alone and not as part of any organization.

Fulop, meanwhile on Friday, went on to again thank law enforcement for preventing an even worse tragedy.

“This is a horrible tragedy but even in so much darkness with lives lost there is some light in that without question had the bravery/quick response of the police not trapped them in the store this could have been much much worse," the mayor wrote in a follow-up tweet.

“People should know that this could’ve been far, far worse," Fulip said during a news conference held Friday. "This could’ve been the equivalent of a Sandy Hook-type tragedy.”

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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