UPDATE: Bedminster Country Club Groundskeeper Shooting Victim Stable

A 59-year-old Orange man killed himself early Monday morning about an hour after critically wounding one of his co-workers at Fiddler's Elbow Country Club in Bedminster, authorities said.

According to authorities, Francisco Jimenez fatally shot himself in the head at a bus stop in his hometown of Orange at about 6:45 a.m., after shooting a fellow groundskeeper at the Bedminster country club shortly after 5 a.m. The wounded groundskeeper, a 37-year-old Plainfield man, was transported by the Far Hills-Bedminster First Aid Squad to an area hospital and remained in critical condition, according to a statement released by the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office at 5 p.m.

UPDATE: Somerset County Capt. Jack Bennett said on Wednesday afternoon that the man who had been shot was in stable condition.

The Somerset County prosecutor's office and Bedminster Police Chief W. Patrick Ussery on Monday said the investigation was continuing into the circumstances of the shooting. On Monday, detectives said they believed the motive for the shooting stemmed from a work-related dispute between both employees. 

Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano said Bedminster Township police officers responded to a 911 call at 5:08 a.m., reporting a gunshot victim at the Fiddler's Elbow Country Club at 811 Rattlesnake Bridge Road.

The responding officers discovered the injured groundskeeper with two gunshot wounds to his upper body, according to the prosecutor's office.

Detectives arrived from the Bedminster Township police department and the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Squad, along with the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Crime Scene Investigations and Forensics Unit, responded to conduct the investigation, the prosecutor said.

Soriano said the victim was the front-seat passenger in a vehicle he apparently was in while arriving at work before he was allegedly confronted by Jimenez.

Authorities said Jimenez allegedly signaled for the vehicle to stop as it entered the Country Club property, and when the vehicle stopped, confronted and shot the victim sitting in the passenger seat. According to the prosecutor's office, Jimenez fired two shots at the victim, hitting him twice.

The unidentified driver of the vehicle immediately accelerated away from the alleged shooter, the prosecutor's office said. Jimenez was last seen entering his vehicle, a black SUV, and fleeing the area, according to authorities.

Somerset detectives later tracked an address for Jimenez, and notified state police of the shooting incident, the release from Soriano's office said.

While Somerset detectives were traveling to Orange seeking to locate Jimenez, the state police notified the team that the Orange Police Department was investigating an apparent suicide near the location of Jimenez’s residence.

With the assistance of state police, the apparent suicide was determined to be Jimenez, according to the prosecutor's office.

Katherine B. Carter, public information officer for the Essex County prosecutor's office, said the bus stop at Central Avenue and Hickory Street is a "busy street." She said she didn't know how many members of the public might have witnessed the apparent shooting.

Jimenez's black SUV was located near the intersection of South Center and Henry Street in Orange, Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn A. Murray said. Investigators from the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Homicide Squad also responded to Orange location, and assists in the ongoing investigation, authorities said.

Authorities said Jimenez was pronounced dead at the scene and was subsequently transported to the New Jersey Regional Medical Examiner’s Office in Newark for an autopsy examination. 

Jimenez's name was not released until late Monday afternoon. Carter said authorities were seeking to first notify next of kin.