Officials: One suspect dead, one still at large in Deptford Twp. shooting incident

DEPTFORD TOWNSHIP, N.J. (WTXF) - Officials in Deptford Township investigate a fatal, officer-involved shooting incident in which one officer was injured.

Deptford Township Police were dispatched to Marshalls department store at 1800 Clements Bridge Road Saturday afternoon, just after 3:30 on a shoplifting in progress call.

After police arrived, they came across three suspects who, they said, ran out of the store with unpaid merchandise. According to officials, one of the suspects, identified as Raoul Gadson, was actively resisting loss-prevention agents of the store. Authorities said Gadson ran off on foot.

The two other suspects got into a vehicle. Officials told the driver to stop the vehicle. According to authorities, the female driver accelerated the vehicle toward police officers. One officer was struck by the driver-side door as the driver, identified as 36-year-old LaShanda Anderson, attempted to flee the scene. Anderson then attempted to run over a second officer. He fired shots at the driver and struck her twice.

Anderson was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers were able to take the third suspect, 27-year-old Chanel Barnes, into custody. She is charged with shoplifting.

Gadson was charged with second-degree robbery and assault. According to officials, he remains at large.

"We heard the pop-pop-pop and the people running in saying 'They're shooting! They're shooting! The cops were outside!'" a witness described the ordeal to FOX 29.

"I was terrified. I didn't know if the suspects were going to run back into the store. I didn't know what was going on," said the witness.

"I think I only saw two bullet casings, the glass, the baton. The paramedic, they're roping off around the SUV, while the woman is still in there bleeding," said a different witness.

"A woman had asked a manager 'Is it ok for us to leave?' and she said, 'Yes, you can leave the store,' and I just hightailed it to my car and that's when we saw more cop cars," the first witness stated.

The second officer was taken to a nearby hospital, treated and released. The first officer was uninjured.

This is an ongoing investigation. Anyone with information related to the incident is asked to contact the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office at 856-466-6192 or 856-384-5500. Anyone with knowledge of Gadson is asked to call GCPO at 856-498-6238.