Bio

Edward L. Lutes Jr. was born in 1959. He became a police officer in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, and served for about 17 years. People who knew him described him as disciplined, physically fit, and proud of his police work. He was also considered skilled with firearms and helped form the department’s special assault team.

Lutes lived in Dover Township, New Jersey, with family members. He had a daughter, and his relationship with some neighbors became deeply hostile after a criminal case involving Dominick Galliano. Galliano had been accused of sexually assaulting Lutes’s daughter but was acquitted in January 2001. Investigators later believed Lutes’s anger over that outcome was a major factor in the killings.

Before the murders, neighbors described Lutes as strict, tense, and quick to anger. Reports also described strange or threatening behavior, including conflicts with neighborhood children and hostility toward the Galliano family. Some later lawsuits alleged that local authorities knew Lutes was behaving erratically but failed to intervene.

Lutes also experienced several personal losses before the shooting. His mother died of cancer in 1991, and his fiancée was killed in a traffic accident in 2001. Family members later said these losses affected him deeply, although friends and co-workers said they did not expect him to become violent.

Murder Story

On the night of April 9, 2002, Edward Lutes began a shooting rampage in his Dover Township neighborhood. Police later said the attack was not random and was connected to long-running conflicts with his neighbors.

Lutes first went to the home of Dominick and Gail Galliano. Armed with a department-issued MP5 and other weapons, he shot and killed Dominick Galliano, Gail Galliano, and their 25-year-old son, Christopher.

He then went to another nearby home and killed Gary Williams and Tina Williams. Their adult son, Robert Williams, escaped by jumping out of a window and injured his ankle. Early reports mistakenly suggested he had been shot, but later accounts clarified that he survived the attack.

After killing the five neighbors, Lutes drove to Barnegat Township, where Seaside Heights Police Chief James M. Costello lived. Costello had heard about the shootings and was leaving his house when Lutes shot him several times, wounding him in the leg and wrist. Costello survived and was hospitalized in satisfactory condition.

Police launched a large search for Lutes. More than 100 officers searched for him overnight. On the morning of April 10, 2002, Lutes was found dead inside his car in the driveway of a Barnegat Township home. A handgun and an MP5 were found in the vehicle. Authorities concluded that he had died by suicide.

The case later led to civil lawsuits. Relatives of the Galliano and Williams families sued Seaside Heights, Toms River, and police officials, arguing that authorities failed to act on warning signs before the rampage. In 2007, the families reportedly shared a $5.7 million settlement.