NJ Jewelry Store Owner Killed In Apparent Murder-Suicide
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (CBS 2) -- A strip mall was the scene of a baffling murder-suicide Monday afternoon.
Police officials said a gunman tried to hold up the Roy T. Jewelers store before shooting its owner, Roy T. Devoe, and turning the gun on himself around 4:45 p.m.
After Devoe was killed, police began checking every car in the parking lot along with neighboring stores in a search for answers.
Shopper Lori Rosten lamented over the shooting, saying it was all "over money and jewelry, that's it."
"And lives are lost, it's a real shame," she told CBS 2's Derricke Dennis.
Workers said they didn't see or hear what happened until it was all over, adding they were shaken up by the incident.
Roy T. Jewelers has been in business for 25 years and specialized in high-end, custom-made pieces along with the buying and selling of gold and silver.
Customer Fae Cushing and her children were inside the store to have a tennis bracelet appraised just one hour before the shooting occured.
"I'm feeling grateful to be alive," Cushing said.
"If my mom went an hour after she would have been killed," Cushing's daughter said.
Two other women were in the store at the time of the shooting, but were not hurt. Police are not yet saying whether there was any relationship between the gunman and the store owner.
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