Holly MatkinRockland, NY – The accused gunman who opened fire at a federal judge’s home while disguised as a FedEx worker was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Monday, according to police.
Daniel Anderl, the 20-year-old son of New Jersey U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, was fatally shot at the family’s North Brunswick, New Jersey home on July 19 after he opened the door for someone wearing a FedEx uniform, KABC reported.
Salas’ husband, 63-year-old criminal defense attorney Mark Anderl, was standing directly behind Daniel Anderl at the time of the attack and was shot multiple times, according to CNN.
Mark Anderl was listed in stable condition on Tuesday following his second surgery, and was expected to undergo a third operation later in the day, according to his law partner, David Oakley.
Salas was in another area of the home at the time of the ambush and was not injured.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced on Monday that the alleged assassin was found dead in Rockland from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Investigators said they found an empty FedEx package addressed to Salas located in a vehicle associated with the suspect.
They also discovered the name and a photo of New York State Chief Judge Janet DiFiore inside the car, New York Unified Court System spokesperson Lucian Chalfen told CNN.
It is unclear whether or not the FBI suspects DiFiore may have been another intended target.
The deceased alleged gunman was identified as 72-year-old Roy Den Hollander, a self-proclaimed “anti-feminist” attorney who had previously been involved in just one case overseen by Salas, CNN reported.
According to federal court records, the case involved a woman and her daughter who filed a lawsuit claiming the military’s selective service is unconstitutional because women are banned from registering.
Den Hollander was their lawyer.
Although Salas, 51, ruled against a portion of his arguments in the spring of 2019, she also agreed with some of his points and ultimately allowed the case to continue, CNN reported.
In June of 2019, Den Hollander said he “would not be able to see the case through” due to a terminal illness, and handed the matter over to another team of attorneys, according to the news outlet.
Den Hollander was dying of melanoma, the New York Post reported.
Over the years, he had been involved in lawsuits against night clubs and bars for offering “ladies’ nights,” sued Columbia University over its Women’s Studies curriculum, and filed a suit against the federal government over the constitutionality of the Violence Against Women Act, CNN reported.
He wrote on his website that female judges of Latin American descent are “driven by an inferiority complex,” and said that there is a push to “convince America that whites, especially white males, were barbarians, and all those of a darker skin complexion were victims.”
“Things begin to change when individual men start taking out those specific persons responsible for destroying their lives before committing suicide,” Den Hollander wrote, according to CNN.
“The only problem with a life lived too long under Feminazi rule is that a man ends up with so many enemies he can’t even the score with all of them,” he added, according to Boston.com.
Federal investigators are also looking into whether or not De Hollander might be linked to the July 11 shooting death of “men’s rights” lawyer Marc Angelucci, Boston.com reported.
Angelucci was fatally shot at his San Bernardina County, California home when he opened his door for someone dressed in a FedEx uniform, police said.
Nicholas Mundy said he represented Den Hollander’s ex-wife, Alina Shipilina, during their divorce proceedings nearly 20 years ago, the New York Post reported.
The couple met in Moscow while Den Hollander was working for a corporate investigation agency, and ended up getting married in Krasnodar, Russia in March of 2000, according to court documents.
Shipilina moved to the U.S. on a temporary visa the following month, and they settled in New York City.
According to Den Hollander’s divorce filing, the relationship crumbled quickly.
Den Hollander alleged that Shipilina lied to police and told them he was abusive, and he claimed that she used their marriage as a ruse to secure a green card, the New York Post reported.
Their divorce was settled by December of 2000.
Eight years later, Den Hollander filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Shipilina’s domestic abuse allegations were part of her plan to remain in the U.S. under the Violence Against Women Act, the New York Post reported.
He argued that the act is nothing more than a ploy to help women take advantage of men.
“As the law created by feminist lobbying now stands, alien females prone to criminal pursuits can become permanent residents and eventually U.S. citizens by simply saying their American husbands abused them, and it will not matter that these females are lying, committed crimes of moral turpitude … or used fraud and perjury to gain entry into the U.S. and to stay here,” Den Hollander wrote in the lawsuit, according to the New York Post.
“In practice and intent, the Violence Against Women Act…create a process by which the Constitutional rights of American men who take or consider taking foreign wives are violated in order to rectify the feminists inability to make American men love them,” he added.
Mundy told the New York Post that Den Hollander “had a terrible hatred for all women,” especially for those with “power,” such as judges.
Den Hollander blasted Salas in his self-published book, calling her “a lazy and incompetent Latina judge appointed by Obama,” Boston.com reported.
“He was hellbent on trying to exact revenge on anybody that he thought crossed him,” Mundy told the New York Post. “He would threaten and say disparaging things about the judges in legal papers and in letters to the court. He didn’t shy away from being unprofessional and speaking his mind in that manner.”
Mundy said he found Den Hollander to be “dangerous and creepy,” and noted that he doesn’t question whether or not the accused killer was capable of “such heinous acts.”
“He was basically a deranged lunatic hiding in plain sight, cloaked by his suit, tie and law degree,” Mundy told the New York Post.
Salas was nominated to the bench by former President Barack Obama in 2010 and is the first Hispanic female to serve as a federal judge in New Jersey ABC News reported.
“As a judge, she had threats from time to time, but everyone is saying that recently there had not been any,” North Brunswick Mayor Francis “Mac” Womack told ABC News.
Salas oversaw cases involving members of the Grape Street Crips after the FBI took down a massive drug-trafficking ring in 2015, NJ Advance Media reported.
In 2014, she sentenced “Real Housewives of New Jersey” stars Teresa and Giuseppe “Joe” Giudice to federal prison after they were convicted on fraud charges, according to The New York Times.
Salas was recently assigned a class-action lawsuit case against Deutsche Bank, which was filed by a group of investors, according to the paper.
The petitioners alleged that the bank failed to flag potentially suspicious transactions that were made on billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s account prior to his death.
Correctional officers found the 66-year-old Tier 3 sex offender hanging in his cell at around 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 10, 2019 according to ABC News.
The billionaire had been jailed while facing charges for sexually abusing and trafficking children.
Mark Anderl worked as an Essex County assistant prosecutor prior to going into private practice as a criminal defense attorney, NJ Advance Media reported.
Daniel Anderl intended to follow in his parents’ footsteps, his friend, Joe Mauro, told NJ Advance Media.
“He was planning on going to law school,” Mauro said of the Catholic University student. “He had his whole future ahead.”
Sandy Malone
