Two Hackensack men dead in murder-suicide, prosecutor says

Show Caption Hide Caption Video: Hackensack murder-suicide Two men in their 60s were found dead in what police suspect was a murder-suicide resulting from a neighbor dispute, authorities said.

HACKENSACK – What authorities are calling a neighbor dispute ended in the deaths of two Hackensack men Sunday morning, the Bergen County prosecutor said in a news conference.

Police responded to The Hampton, a condominium building at 5 Linden St., near Passaic Street, Sunday morning after reports of gunfire.

Two men in their 60s were found dead. The victim was found dead in the lobby near the elevators with multiple gunshot wounds when police arrived at 9:20 a.m., Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal said in a press conference. The suspect was found dead in a car in the parking lot behind the building, from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police recovered and secured a handgun from the car, he said.

The victim was a 66-year-old man and the suspect was a 63-year-old man, Grewal said. The release of their names is pending the notification of next of kin.

Grewal said the shooting was the "end result of a long-running dispute between two residents" of the building that goes back to January. The victim lived one floor directly above the suspect, he said. Hackensack police were called seven times regarding the two men and their dispute, he said.

More information regarding names, and additional details will be released later today or tomorrow morning, the prosecutor said.

Grewal said the ultimate causes of death will be determined by the Bergen County Medical Examiner's Office pending the completion of autopsies later this week.

Police are not looking for additional suspects.

Police closed Linden Street between Passaic and Anderson streets and a portion of Passaic was also closed.

About 10 police cars from the Hackensack Police Department and other agencies responded to the scene.

Grace Affotey has lived in the building since 2013. She left for church at 8:15 a.m. and when she returned at 1 p.m. police told her she could not go into the building. She was among the dozen or so residents waiting across the street for hours to be let back in.

“It’s a good building,” Affotey said. “We say good morning to everybody. I wish it’s somebody I don’t know.”

Rick Sear, a 17-year resident of The Hampton, said, "It's quite a shock and a surprise."

Residents outside the building were calm but confused and rumors quickly worked through the crowd, which included neighbors and other bystanders.

Some residents were inside the six-story building staring down at the police activity below them on Linden Street.

Sandra Tolen, a resident of the building, said she was shopping when she got a text that someone had been shot.

“I’m really not sure what’s going on,” Tolen said before the press conference.