The New Jersey State Police trooper who reportedly shot and killed his former girlfriend and a firefighter she was dating had been assigned to protect the First Assistant Attorney General, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.
Ricardo J. Santos, a member of the State Police’s elite Executive Protection Unit, has been assigned to the security detail of Lyndsay Ruotolo, who serves as the number two person at the Department of Law and Public Safety after the attorney general, Matt Platkin, the New Jersey Globe confirmed. Santos had previously protected Gov. Phil Murphy and his predecessor, Chris Christie.
The First Assistant Attorney General position has only been added to the list of official protectees in recent years. A spokesperson, citing security issues, declined to comment.
The EPU protects the governor and lieutenant governor, as well as their residences and Drumthwacket, the governor’s mansion. Additional protectees include the lieutenant governor, the governor’s chief of staff and chief counsel, the attorney general, the state director of Homeland Security, the Senate President and Assembly Speaker, and former governors when they seek a driver for official state events.
Santos fatally shot his 33-year-old ex-girlfriend, Lauren Semanchik, and a 29-year-old man she had been dating, Tyler Webb, before taking his own life. Semanchik, a veterinarian, and Webb, a Berkeley Township firefighter, were found dead Saturday in Franklin Township, Hunterdon County. Santos was later found dead in a park in Middlesex County.
Semanchik’s mother told reporters that she had called local police to complain about Santos stalking her daughter. It’s not clear if those threats had reached Ruotolo.
Officials with direct knowledge of the incident confirmed the deaths. Multiple media outlets first reported the killings.
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