Investigators confirmed the incident was a murder-suicide
The following information was provided by the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office:
Investigators confirmed through witnesses and evidence collected that Piacenta M. Jackson, of Woodbury, fired a gunshot that killed NJ TRANSIT bus driver Ryon C. Reynolds, of Sicklerville, as he arrived for work around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 6, in a parking lot of the transit agency’s Washington Township bus garage, and then drove to a Mantua Township location where she used a handgun to end her own life.
Jackson, an officer with the state Department of Corrections, used a gun that she personally and legally owned, investigators determined.
Jackson’s car was spotted by Deptford Township police after the shooting of Reynolds at the Black Horse Pike garage. Officers of the Deptford and Mantua police departments attempted to stop the vehicle, at which time Jackson pulled off the road into a parking lot at Center and Trenton streets in Mantua, exited the car and shot herself.
Autopsies conducted today determined the cause of Reynolds’ death was a gunshot wound to the back and the manner of death was homicide. The cause of Jackson’s death was a gunshot wound to the head and the manner was suicide.
Interviews indicated the two had been in a dating relationship that ended before the shooting.
The shooting is being investigated by the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, the New Jersey Transit Police Department and the police departments of Washington and Mantua townships.
