‘Anti-feminist’ identified as suspect in slaying of federal judge's son
Roy Den Hollander was a self-described "anti-feminist" lawyer who flooded the courts with seemingly frivolous lawsuits that sought to eliminate women's studies programs and prohibit nightclubs from holding "ladies' nights."
In one of his most recent cases, he openly seethed against a federal judge in New Jersey, Esther Salas, whom he described in a self-published, 1700-page book as "a lazy and incompetent Latina judge appointed by Obama."
Crime scene tape surrounds the home of US District Judge Esther Salas in New Jersey.Credit:AP
Den Hollander left the case, in which he challenged the male-only US military draft, last summer, telling a lawyer who replaced him that he had terminal cancer.
On Sunday afternoon, Den Hollander showed up at Salas' home in North Brunswick, New Jersey, and fired multiple gunshots, killing the judge's son and seriously wounding her husband, who is a criminal defence lawyer, investigators said.
The judge, who was in the basement at the time, was not injured.
The New York State Police found Den Hollander's body near Liberty, New York — about a two-hour drive from the judge's home — after he shot himself in an apparent suicide, officials said.
The startling sequence of events was a reminder of the dangers encountered by judges, who typically do not receive special security outside the courthouse unless they face specific threats.
The FBI on Monday contacted New York state's chief judge, Janet M. DiFiore, to notify her that Den Hollander had her name and photo in his car, according to her spokesman, Lucian Chalfen.
Roy Den HollanderCredit:RoyDenHollander.com
The agents did not indicate whether Den Hollander had intended to target her as well, he said.
Investigators were exploring whether Den Hollander had decided to "take out" some of his enemies, given his cancer diagnosis, before he died, according to one law enforcement official.
Den Hollander, 69, identified with a broader movement of men who in often abusive, misogynist and hateful language rail against "feminazis."
He wrote numerous online screeds, some of which exceeded 1000 pages.
The judge's husband, Mark Anderl, 63, was in the hospital in stable condition, Carlos Salas, an older brother of Salas, said.
The couple's son and only child, Daniel Anderl, 20, died from a gunshot wound to the heart.
Daniel Anderl was about to start his junior year at Catholic University of America in Washington and was interested in pursuing a legal career as his parents had.
Esther Salas presided over a wide range of cases. Last week, she was assigned to oversee a class-action lawsuit filed by a group of investors against Deutsche Bank, contending that the firm failed to flag questionable transactions that were made from the account of financier Jeffrey Epstein, who killed himself last August while in jail awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
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The New York Times