New Jersey State Police, New Jersey
End of Watch Wednesday, May 2, 1973
Add to My HeroesWerner Foerster
Trooper Werner Foerster was shot and killed with his own service weapon after backing up another trooper who had stopped a vehicle containing two men and a woman on the New Jersey Turnpike.
The subjects started struggling with the troopers and disarmed Trooper Foerster. One of the men opened fire, killing Trooper Foerster and wounding the other trooper. Despite the wounds, the other trooper returned fire and killed one of the subjects.
The three subjects were members of the Black Liberation Army. The two surviving subjects were convicted of Trooper Foerster's murder, but the female suspect escaped from prison in 1979 and fled to Cuba, where she has remained at large. The man who shot Trooper Werner was sentenced to life in prison. He was denied parole in 2011, but in September 2014, the New Jersey Superior Court overturned the ruling and ordered that the subject be paroled.
An accomplice who helped the female subject escape was placed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list in 1982. He was arrested in 1986 for his involvement in the 1981 murders of two Nyack, New York, police officers.
Trooper Foerster was a United States Army Vietnam veteran and had served with the New Jersey State Police Department for almost three years. He is survived by his wife and two children.
He is buried in Washington Monumental Cemetery, South River, New Jersey. The Route 18 overpass on the New Jersey Turnpike has been dedicated as the Werner Foerster Overpass in his honor.
The Black Liberation Army was a violent, radical group that attempted to fight for independence from the United States government in the late 1960's and early 1970's. The BLA was responsible for the murders of more than 10 police officers around the country. They were also responsible for violent attacks around the country that left many police officers wounded.
Bio
- Age 34
- Tour 3 years
- Badge 2608
- Military Veteran
Incident Details
- Cause Gunfire
- Weapon Officer's handgun
- Offender At large
Most Recent Reflection
View all 77 ReflectionsTrooper Foerster is my at the time my best friend. I knew him as Uncle Werner. He was my mom’s sisters husband.
We had so many things in common and I will forever miss the good times that we’ll never have together.
I often wonder how my life would’ve turned out if he didn’t have that
event happen to him.
I was 16 when he was taken.
Cory Pogue
September 14, 2024
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