Newark police lieutenant fatally shoots ex-wife, injures her boyfriend: Police

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (WPIX) -- A Newark police lieutenant is in police custody for allegedly killing his estranged ex-wife and injuring her boyfriend, authorities said Monday.

Lt. John Formisano allegedly shot and killed his ex-wife and shot her boyfriend inside a home located on Mirror Place in Jefferson Township around 11:20 p.m. Sunday, according to police.

Formisano, who worked for the Newark Police Department for 24 years, was taken into custody at his parents' house in Livingston, New Jersey, according to NJ.com.

A retired Passaic County Sheriff's Officer who lives in the neighborhood told NJ.com that a neighbor saw the shooter.

“[Formisano] went in the front door,” Thomas Verrone said. “He shot the boyfriend three times and he shot the wife two times. She ran out of that house, went to next-door neighbor banging on the door, yelling she had been shot. But it was late at night so no one answered. He came out, followed her and she went to the other neighbor's house. She opened the [screen] door and then he unloaded more on her, she fell there.”

Formisano was immediately suspended without pay, according to the Newark Police Department.

The ex-wife's name has not yet been released and the condition of the boyfriend is unknown.