A gunfight between police and two attackers occurred in the afternoon of December 10 in Jersey City, New Jersey, killing six people.

The chaos erupted when an investigating police officer approached two murder suspects and was shot at them in the head, law enforcement sources said. The two suspects then fled in a van and hid inside a grocery store a few blocks from the original scene.

After a gun battle, police killed two suspects at a grocery store but three civilians were killed. Authorities announced that there was no indication that the incident was related to terrorism.

Police officers shot dead were identified as Joseph Seals, 39, working at the Jersey City police station since 2006. Seals is married and has five children. Two other officers of the same civilian were injured but not serious. All schools in Jersey City were closed while dormitories in the neighboring city of Bayonne received a "shelter in place" order as a precaution.

"I can hear gunshots. It's like firecrackers," said Andy Patel, an employee at a liquor store three blocks from the scene of the shooting. "They started firing madly for about an hour and then stopped for about 20, 30 minutes. The police asked everyone to evacuate the street."

In the middle of last month, a shootings also took place at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, leaving two dead and three injured. The suspect, just turned 16, took a 11.4 mm caliber handgun from his backpack and fired bullets at five of his classmates before shooting himself.

Location of Jersey City. Graphics: CNN.