Woodbridge mayor honors five officers wounded or involved in June motel shooting

Woodbridge Mayor John McCormick opened the meeting by recognizing five police officers involved in a June 13, 2024 motel shooting in the Kaysby section of town, saying the incident demonstrated the department’s training and professionalism. "These men behind me here ... took a situation that could have been disastrous," McCormick said as he described officers protecting colleagues and civilians.

In a proclamation read by the mayor, the township said officers located a suspect wanted in New York City, initiated surveillance and encountered the armed suspect in the motel lobby. The proclamation named Officer Justin Nerney and Officer Drew Kopinski as returning fire; Officer Nerney and New York Police Department Detective Matthew Morrow were wounded and "are recovering from their wounds," the mayor said.

The proclamation credited Sergeant Timothy Lockerie and Officers Patrick Medina and Jeffrey Schott with rendering immediate first aid to the wounded officers. A supervisor who was at the scene (unidentified in the transcript) told the meeting, "I'm still here because of the 4 people that I had there with me," and praised the teamwork and quick action that evening.

The mayor presented proclamations for the five officers and praised the Woodbridge Police Department as exemplifying the skills and readiness of the town’s public safety personnel. The meeting record shows the suspect was incapacitated and later pronounced deceased at the scene; the transcript does not report charges or later legal proceedings.

The council moved on after the presentations to the scheduled agenda.