Nation IN BRIEF : NEW JERSEY : Detective Killed in Courthouse Shooting
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A detective waiting to testify against two men in a drug trial in Newark, N.J., was fatally shot in a courthouse hallway, and the defendants’ cousin was arrested. John Sczyrek, 30, wearing plainclothes, was shot in the head after he was approached by Eddie Lee Oliver Philson outside a courtroom at the Essex County Courthouse, authorities said. A sheriff’s officer who heard the gunfire rushed out of a nearby courtroom and was shot and wounded in the chest. Philson allegedly fired twice more as he fled the courthouse, throwing a .357-caliber Magnum in some bushes. He was arrested a few blocks away and charged with murder and attempted murder, county prosecutor Clifford Minor said. The shooting came three months after metal detectors were installed at the courthouse.
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