Fundraiser will aid children of Newark cop, wife he’s charged with killing – NJ.com

The two young children of Newark police officer John Formisano and his estranged wife Christie, who he’s charged with killing in the family’s home Sunday night, face an uncertain future, a family friend says.

A GoFundMe page he launched this week aims to help the children with whatever those needs are.

“Everyone is doing all they can do for the children’s transition to this new life considering the circumstances,” Miko Velez wrote on the page. Velez, a former colleague of Formisano’s, said the children’s caregivers were able to get some of their belongings form the home.

“[Monday] night we were able to get access to the house and stuffed as many black bags with the children’s clothing, toys, medication and kitchen utensils we could,” Velez wrote on the page.

The children were in the home during the shooting and were taken from the house by police while the officers searched for the shooter. Formisano was arrested a few hours later, in Essex County, and charged with murder.

Velez said the children are “with family” but still have a “rough road ahead” and that the GoFundMe page was created to help “offset the costs of relocating the children, setting up their new living situation, and providing a financial foundation for their future needs.”

The campaign had raised over $13,000 of its $20,000 goal as of 7 p.m. on Thursday.

A Newark cop is accused of shooting his wife to death. Here’s what we know so far.

How the shooting death of Christie Formisano unfolded.

Police officers responding to a 911 call from the home late Sunday discovered Christie’s lifeless body on the front steps of a neighbor’s house in Jefferson Township, authorities said.

Police rushed into the Formisano home on Mirror Place where they found the two children, who were not injured. A man inside, identified as Christie’s boyfriend, was wounded in the shooting and survived.

A divorce filing obtained by NJ Advance Media showed that John Formisano had filed for divorce from Christie on June 7, citing “irreconcilable differences.”

Formisano showed up at the house to drop off a pair of glasses to one of his children, but he was armed with a handgun, police have said.

A detective’s report stated that Formisano “blacked out” and couldn’t remember what happened next after he walked into the home suspecting that there was another man there. He then recalled shooting his wife and the man, multiple times.

Christie was able to escape. She ran to a neighbor’s house but Formisano followed her and fatally shot her, according to a neighbor’s account of the incident.

Formisano was arrested 30 miles away in a parking lot in Livingston early Monday morning, during which police found a handgun they said he had used in the shooting. He was later charged with murder, attempted murder and related offenses on Monday.

Formisano was being held at the psychiatric unit at St. Clare’s hospital in Boonton.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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