New Jersey councilman fatally shot by former colleague, authorities say

A borough councilperson was fatally shot in New Jersey this week, authorities have confirmed, marking the state's second attack in seven days where an act of gun violence resulted in the death of a local elected official.

Russell Heller, 51, was a council member in the township of Milford, near the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He was shot around 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning in the parking lot of the PSE&G Central Division headquarters building in Somerset, where Heller had worked as a supervisor for 11 years. 

Officers were dispatched to the facility on a 911 call, the Franklin Township Police Department said in a news release. When they arrived, the responding officers found Heller had suffered a gunshot wound and already succumbed to his injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency medical personnel, according to the police department.