Burlington County Corrections Officer Indicted In Fatal Shooting

MOUNT LAUREL, NJ — A Burlington County Corrections Officer has been indicted in connection with a shooting in which one person was killed and another was injured at a doctor’s office in Mount Laurel in 2019, authorities announced on Friday.

Bruce Gomola Jr., 52 of Burlington Township, is accused of fatally shooting 41-year-old Stephanie Horton over a dispute concerning Gomola's father at a Delaware Valley Urology Office, according to Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina.

On Friday, a Burlington County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging him with first-degree murder, second-degree aggravated assault and second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.

Gomola has been suspended without pay from his position as a corrections officer. He is currently being held in a detention facility in North Jersey, and an arraignment is pending in the case. Read more here: Burlington County Corrections Officer Arrested In Fatal Shooting

Horton was a patient services representative at the office, located in the 15000 block of Midlantic Drive, and was trying to calm Gomola down when he shot her in the chest with a .40 caliber handgun, according to authorities. The bullet went through her back and struck a female patient in the knee, authorities said.

Gomola then left the building in a car, but returned shortly thereafter, authorities said. He surrendered to a Mount Laurel police officer on the scene.

Horton was pronounced dead at 4:18 p.m. at Cooper University Hospital in Camden. The other victim, a woman in her fifties, was treated at the same facility for serious, but not life-threatening injuries.