U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, whose 20-year-old son was shot and killed at the family home last month, has released a nine-minute video statement addressing the attack.
In the video, Salas—whose husband Mark Anderl was also wounded in the shooting by Roy Den Hollander—called for greater protections for her "brothers and sisters on the bench" amid a recent uptick in threats made against federal court officials.
"We are living every parent's worst nightmare," Salas said. "Making preparations to bury our only child, Daniel. My family has experienced a pain that no one should ever have to endure. I am here asking everyone to help me ensure that no one ever has to experience this kind of pain. We may not be able to stop something like from happening again but we can make it hard for those who target us to track us down."
Den Hollander, per investigators, referred to himself as an "anti-feminist" lawyer and had openly expressed calls for violence against officials. Per reports from July, he died of "what is believed to be" a self-inflicted gunshot wound following the shooting at the Salas residence.
"As federal judges, we understand that our decisions will be scrutinized and some may disagree strongly with our rulings," Salas said in the newly released video. "We know that our job requires us to make tough calls and sometimes those calls can leave people angry and upset. That comes with the territory and we accept that. But what we can't accept is when we are forced to live in fear for our lives because personal information like our home addresses can easily be obtained by anyone seeking to do us or our families harm."
See Salas' full statement via the video up top.
