An off-duty New Jersey police officer, who had recently been divorced, chased down and shot his ex-wife. The shocking incident happened in a park, while their daughter watched in horror.
Officers, who eventually managed to subdue the off-duty cop, say Neptune Township police Sgt. Phil Seidle had his 7-year-old daughter in the front seat of his car while he chased his ex-wife, Tamara, who was driving ahead of them. The incident occurred shortly before 11:30 a.m. yesterday.
Seidle appeared to have a clear motive of killing his wife, but it is unclear why he brought along his seven-year-old daughter along to witness the macabre incident. Fortunately, police officers who were in the vicinity for an unrelated traffic accident witnessed the shooting and quickly removed the little girl from Seidle’s car. Authorities have confirmed the little girl wasn’t harmed and is safe.
However, the officer’s ex-wife wasn’t so fortunate. After the chase, which lasted for a few minutes, came to a halt, Seidle got out, walked up to his ex-wife’s car, pointed his standard service issue.40-caliber Glock weapon at the driver’s seat and fired several rounds into the vehicle. Surprisingly, the officer’s ex-wife survived the shooting, but what happened next, perhaps sealed her fate.
After unloading his gun into his ex-wife’s car, the officer then put the gun to his head and held police at bay. The poor woman continued to suffer in the car, while a hostage situation developed that lasted for about 30 minutes. However, after intense negotiations, Seidle gave up and surrendered. Subsequently, his ex-wife, identified as 51-year-old Tamara Seidle, was rushed to a nearby hospital with a very weak pulse. The woman succumbed to her injuries a little while later.
What’s shocking about the incident is the fact that Seidle was a well-respected police officer, who had served for 22 years on the police force. None of his colleagues knew exactly what went wrong with the veteran, but the officer had legally separated from his wife just last month. The 51-year-old police officer has nine children ranging in age from 7 to 24 with his now-deceased ex-wife.
One of the eye-witnesses, Michael Terrell, said he saw and heard Seidle yelling at his ex-wife about their child custody fights,
“The guy was in the middle of the street. He was saying, ‘I’m tired of going to court.’”
The officer has been taken into custody and has been charged with first-degree murder that was pre-mediated. If convicted, he could either face life-imprisonment or death. Cops have been known to use lethal force on unarmed victims earlier, but this incident may have a lot of elements that could be uncovered during the investigation.
[Image Credit | WCBS 2, Bob Bielk/Asbury Park Press via AP]
