Deptford Marshalls Robbery & Assault Suspect Taken Into Custody

Gloucester County Prosecutor, Charles Fiore, announced that Raoul A. Gadson, 43, of Phila., Pa. was taken into custody today in Philadelphia by officers of the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office Fugitive Investigations Unit.  Gadson has been charged with a robbery and assault that took place at a Marshalls store in Deptford Township N.J. on June 9, 2018.

Gadsen will be detained in Philadelphia until extradition proceedings are completed. Once he is returned to New Jersey, he will be scheduled for a first appearance in Superior Court, Woodbury on the second-degree assault and robbery charges.

Deptford Township police officers were dispatched to the Marshalls store in the Deptford Crossing Shopping Center for a report of a shoplifting and encountered three suspects, who had fled the store with a substantial amount of unpaid merchandise.

One of the subjects, identified as Gadson, was actively resisting with loss prevention agents from the store. As Deptford officers approached, Gadson fled on foot while the other two suspects, both females, entered a rented Nissan Armada.

Officers, who were outside their vehicles, commanded the driver to stop.  However, the Armada driver accelerated towards them. One officer, a patrol captain and 27-year veteran, was struck by the open driver-side door as the driver raced from the scene and toward the other officer.

The driver, later identified as LaShanda Anderson, age 36, of Philadelphia, reportedly attempted to deliberately run over the second officer in an apparent assault by auto. Eyewitness statements provided during the investigation confirmed that Anderson accelerated straight at the officer, who reportedly acted in self-defense.

The second officer, a sergeant and 17-year veteran, fired three shots at the driver in the oncoming vehicle, striking her twice. The speeding vehicle veered, narrowly missing the officer, continued across the parking lot, and onto the access road exiting the parking lot where it subsequently came to rest.

Anderson was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy conducted on June 10, 2018, by the Gloucester County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death as “multiple gunshot wounds.”

Officers took the passenger, Chanel Barnes, 27, also of Philadelphia, into custody and charged her with shoplifting. Barnes is being held in the Salem County Correctional Facility pending a detention hearing that will be held on June 14, 2018 before Superior Court Judge Robert P. Becker.

The shooting is under investigation by the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office. County Prosecutor Charles A. Fiore has said his office will conduct a comprehensive and objective investigation, under the supervision of the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.

GCPO First Assistant Prosecutor Paul Colangelo said investigators are continuing to interview witnesses, gather and analyze physical evidence and will pursue all leads to find answers and present findings to the public.

All persons charged with crimes are presumed innocent until proven otherwise in a court of law.