Eyewitness saw woman shot by off-duty Neptune cop

In an apparent fit of rage, an off-duty Neptune police sergeant upset over child custody issues fired multiple rounds at his ex-wife while she sat in her car, killing her as his 7-year-old daughter watched from the front passenger seat of his car, authorities said.

In what witnesses described as a chaotic and violent scene, Sgt. Philip Seidle shot his 51-year-old ex-wife Tamara with his .40-caliber Glock service handgun in two bursts of gunfire: first through the driver's side door, and a second time as he walked around to the front of her car and shot her through the windshield — both times as police were nearby, according to eyewitness accounts and Monmouth County First Assistant Prosecutor Marc C. LeMieux.

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The shooting, which left the couple's nine children without a mother and their father in custody, took place before noon in front of numerous horrified witnesses.

"It looks like he just snapped," said resident Linda Jones, who said she knew the 51-year-old Philip Seidle. "I'm sad for the wife. I'm sad for the children, I'm sad for him."

The youngest daughter was in the front seat of Philip Seidle's silver Honda Pilot as the violence unfolded. Philip Seidel first chased Tamara Seidle's car through Asbury Park, and then fired the first round of bullets, LeMieux said. Officers who were on the scene then talked Seidle into allowing them to remove the girl from his car, but once they did so, Seidle — who had been holding a gun to his own head — then walked to the front of his wife's car and shot her again, the prosecutor said.

Two eyewitnesses who didn't want to be identified told the Asbury Park Press they saw Tamara Seidle speed past the Asbury Service Center on Asbury Avenue with Philip Seidle trailing behind her in a late-model silver Honda Pilot.

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"She looked scared," one witness said

Moments later, they heard the crash on Sewall and then gunshots. People outside in the neighborhood scattered, some running for cover at the service center, the eyewitnesses said.

"People were yelling and they didn't know what to do," the witness said. "There was just a lot of panic."

Seidle has been charged with murder, unlawful possession of a weapon and endangering the welfare of his daughter in Tamara's death, LeMieux said, at a news conference in Asbury Park not far from where the shooting took place.

"Our hearts go out to the Seidle children," LeMieux said.

The couple divorced on May 27; their children ranged in age from 7 to 24. A divorce complaint Tamara Seidle filed two years ago described a tumultuous marriage, with Tamara Seidle alleging violence, abuse and infidelity, including that her husband had held a gun to her head when she was pregnant; another time, she said he kicked her in the stomach.

The shooting shattered what had been an otherwise seemingly normal day in Asbury Park, and shaken residents had a difficult time believing what they had just seen.

"It was shocking," said eyewitness Michael Terrell of Neptune, who said he saw Seidle raise his gun and fire multiple shots at the woman.

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Prior to the shooting, Terrell said he saw Seidle yelling at his ex-wife about child custody battles. "The guy was in the middle of the street," said Terrell. "He was saying, 'I'm tired of going to court.'"

Here's how LeMieux described the fatal chain of events:

Around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, as Tamara Seidle was trying to flee as her ex-husband chased her in his car, her vehicle crashed into a parked car on Sewall Avenue. Philip Seidle's car then crashed into hers, and he got out of the car, pulled out his handgun and approached her car, immediately firing into the driver's side several times. Seidle's daughter was in his car while he was shooting into her mother's car.

Once Seidle stopped shooting, he put the gun to his head and walked around the vehicle. Police, who were nearby investigating an unrelated motor vehicle accident, started talking to Seidle. They got him to agree that they could take his daughter out of the car.

As the girl was taken away, Seidle then walked to the front of his wife's car and fired into the windshield. Seidle then put the gun again to his head, and there was a 30-minute standoff while police attempted to get him to surrender.

Terrell, who was later barricaded inside his workplace at Campbell's Door Co. on Sewall Avenue while police negotiated with Philip Seidle, recalled seeing one officer there, but it wasn't until reinforcements arrived that they started to block off the area and negotiate with him.

From inside Campbell's, Terrell said he heard police say, "Phil, put the gun down."

That's when Seidle raised the gun to his head, threatening to kill himself, said another onlooker, Trina Poysner, who said Philip Seidle was standing in the middle of the street. Police pushed eyewitnesses farther back, taping off the area.

"Put the gun down," Poysner, of Asbury Park, recalled police saying. "It's not worth it."

"My kids, my kids!" Philip Seidle yelled, as she recalled. "I'm not going to see them anymore."

"I thought he was going to pull the trigger," said Trina Poysner.

Seidle ultimately surrendered at 11:52 a.m., LeMieux said. Crowds formed around the police tape at Ridge and Sewall avenues, watching as Seidle was placed into a car. People recognized him in the car, saying "That's Phil."

Residents in the tight-knit Neptune community were in shock on Tuesday.

Township resident Dianna Harris said Philip Seidle was a popular police officer who cared about the community. Harris, who is president of the Neptune-based Midtown Urban Renaissance Corp., said Seidle would often visit the nonprofit group's community garden on Monroe Avenue.

"He was a well-respected cop in the area," said Dianna Harris, a resident and Neptune Zoning Board member. "Nobody knows what triggered this, and that's what makes it so sad."

Monday evening, a Neptune officer parked his car and stood near the driveway to the Seidle home. A man who went in and out of the house declined to comment.

A.J. Allen-Bess III, a neighbor, said the family threw a graduation party Saturday for two of the eldest children; a congratulations banner was still over the door. The pair graduated from Montclair State University — one earned a master's degree, one earned a bachelor's degree, he said.

"These kids — the ones that just graduated from college — they're just starting their lives," Allen-Bess said.

He said Tamara Seidle was a nice woman with a bubbly spirit. She focused on her children, often taking them to soccer or lacrosse practices.

"This family was an asset to this neighborhood," he said. "There's no strangers on this block."

He said he didn't hear any fights or notice problems at the home.

"This is not something that I ever would have expected to have occurred."

Tamara Seidle was also active in Neptune athletics and a member of the Red and Black Booster Club.

Susan Doremus, a booster club trustee, said she and Tamara Seidle worked together during football games, track meets and other Neptune school sporting events.

"She was a very lovely person, and she would always go above and beyond for her kids," Doremus said.

Doremus said she recalled the booster club delivering food and gift cards to Tamara when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010.

She knew of Tamara and Philip's marital woes but said the couple never displayed them in public.

"I honestly think he just snapped," Doremus said. "I just can't believe that he did this to her."

In the divorce complaint filed two years ago in the Family Division of state Superior Court in Freehold, Tamara Seidle described a rocky marriage with a history of violence, abuse and infidelity.

Obsessed with pornography and video games and violent from the start, Philip Seidle tortured his wife throughout their marriage, the complaint stated. He held a gun to her head when she was pregnant and cocked the firearm, according to the complaint. At another time, he kicked her in the stomach, again when she was pregnant, she alleged.

After an argument on her birthday about billings for pornography on their cable bill, he punched her in the face, giving her a black eye, she alleged.

Shortly after Tamara Seidle's mother died in 2003, she learned her husband was having an affair with a woman at the Neptune Manor Lodge, according to the complaint.

The couple had been married since Aug. 25, 1990. Their female children are 24, 17, 15, 12 and 7 and their male children 22, 20, 19 and 11.

Philip Seidle is a 22-year veteran of the Neptune Police Department. He was first hired as a patrolman on July 1, 1993, and has held the rank of sergeant in the Patrol Division since his promotion on Jan. 1, 2009. He is a U.S. Navy veteran serving from March 1986 until his honorable discharge in November 1990.

Philip Seidle was being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold Township, in lieu of $2 million bail with no 10 percent option, as set by Superior Court Judge Francis J. Vernoia, sitting in Freehold.

According to DataUniverse.com, Seidle earned $125,704 in 2014. Neptune police Lt. Michael McGhee declined comment, referring inquiries to the county Prosecutor's Office and the Asbury Park Police Department.

New Jersey property records show Seidle owned a house at the end of a cul-de-sac on Heritage Court in Neptune. Tamara Seidle is listed as the co-owner of the property.

Police are asking any witnesses or anyone with video from the shooting to contact police. Officers involved in the shooting include the Prosecutor's Office, county Sheriff's Office, U.S. Marshal's Office, and Asbury Park and Neptune police departments. Asbury Park has jurisdiction in the case. Anyone with any other information about the case is urged to contact Detective John Leibfried of the Prosecutor's Office at 1-800-533-7443, or Asbury Park Detective Dan Kowsaluk at 732-774-1300.

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