Two police officers were shot on Tuesday in the Weequahic area of Newark, New Jersey, and investigators are seeking a suspect, according to various law enforcement sources.

Two of the sources say that both of the cops are thought to be in stable condition.

Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey tweeted that he was aware of the circumstance and was “closely monitoring” it.

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“I am in touch with local authorities and the State is providing resources as requested,” he tweeted. “We will continue to support local law enforcement and ensure that all residents are safe.”

The FBI in Newark acknowledged that they are helping with the shooting investigation.

Where is Weequahic, Newark?

Weequahic is a neighborhood in the city of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey.

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It is a part of the South Ward and is bordered on the north by Hawthorne Avenue, on the west by Irvington Township, on the east by Dayton, on the south by Hillside Township, and on the northwest by the city of Elizabeth.

Major streets in the Weequahic neighbourhood include Lyons Avenue, Bergen Street, and Chancellor Avenue. A portion of the Weequahic area has been declared a historic district.

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The Lenni-Lenape word “Weequahic” means “head of the cove.” Prior to its development into a middle-class, non-industrial community of detached single-family houses centred around Weequahic Park in the late nineteenth century, the area was farmland. To the west, numerous multi-unit buildings were later constructed, and yet later, a few residential modernist highrises.

Up until the late 1960s, Weequahic was mostly a middle-class Jewish neighbourhood with a large number of synagogues, yeshivas, and Jewish eateries. The main hospital in Newark, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (in Weequahic), was constructed with the support of the Jewish community. Bragman’s Delicatessen and Restaurant, located at 393 Hawthorne Avenue, is the only surviving link to the Jewish community.

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The Second Great Migration of African Americans and suburbanization that followed World War II changed the demographics of Newark in general and the Weequahic neighbourhood in particular. If not for the severe consequences of real estate blockbusting, white flight, and the building of Interstate 78, which tore Weequahic’s delicate urban fabric and divided the neighbourhood from the rest of Newark, the neighbourhood may have remained middle class.