USA Shooting Outside Empire State Building

[namjiwankaur]

This is breaking news and very concerning. There has been another shooting. This time at least 3 people are dead after being shot outside the Empire State Building. No details yet, but its time for prayers for all involved.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/08/24/multiple-people-reported-shot-near-empire-state-building/

It is like there is some kind of domino effect with all these shootings. The US needs to address all of it, from every angle, and then deal seriously with the problem.

Not just regarding multiple shootings, but every shooting. Where I live, literally every day there are shootings now in the cities.

Nam Jiwan

PS- I'm watching the news on the shooting at the Empire State Building and now they are saying as many as 5 people were shot. Much of the info is not confirmed. The Power of Prayer must prevail over all this violence. We must react with a tidal wave of prayer that sweeps away these acts of violence.

 

[Archived_Member16]

Ten shot, two dead near New York's Empire State Building
10:33am EDT
By Lily Kuo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two people were killed and at least eight were wounded in a shooting outside the landmark Empire State Building in New York City on Friday, a New York police source said.

One of the dead was the shooter, the source said, adding there was no apparent link to terrorism.

A white tarp covered what was believed to be a body in front of the entrance to the office building but police declined to confirm if it was the shooter.

"I heard the gunshots," said Dahlia Anister, 33, who works at an office near the 102-story Empire State Building. "It was like pop, pop, pop. It was definitely in a bunch."

The shooting started shortly after 9 a.m. on the busy sidewalk on Fifth Avenue outside the Midtown Manhattan building.

It came at the height of the tourist season outside one of New York City's most popular attractions, startling tourists and commuters. Police cordoned off the area around the building, one of the most recognizable in the world.

The Empire State Building is two blocks from Pennsylvania Station and a few blocks from Grand Central Terminal, two of New York City's main transportation hubs.

"People started running, saying somebody has a gun, so I just ran the other way. I was scared," said Adrianne Lapar, 27, who works in the Empire State Building.

The United States has had two other mass shooting cases this summer. On July 20, James Holmes, 24, is accused of opening fire at a midnight screening of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 people and wounding 58.

On August 5, a gunman killed six people and critically wounded three at a Sikh temple outside Milwaukee before police shot him dead in an attack authorities treated as an act of domestic terrorism.

The Empire State Building was the world's tallest building for 40 years from its completion in 1931 until construction of the World Trade Center. Following the September 11, 2001, attacks, it was again the tallest building in the city, though was recently surpassed by a new tower under construction at the World Trade Center.

(Reporting by Lily Kuo and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Daniel Trotta)

source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/24/us-usa-shooting-empirestate-idUSBRE87N0M220120824

 

[Archived_Member16]

UPDATE:

A laid-off women's accessories designer has shot a former co-worker to death in front of the Empire State Building, causing a chaotic showdown with police in front of one of the world's best-known landmarks.

Police killed the suspect in a Friday morning shootout that wounded at least nine others. Some may have been hit by officers' bullets. City officials said some of the wounded were grazed and others hit directly, but all were expected to survive.

The gunshots rang out on the Fifth Avenue side of the building at around 9 a.m., a time of day when the sidewalks around the building are packed with pedestrians and merchants were opening their shops.

Emergency personnel respond to reports of several people being shot outside the Empire State Building. (WABC-TV/AP)
"People were yelling 'Get down! Get down!'" said Marc Engel, an accountant who was on a bus in the area when he heard the shots. "It took about 15 seconds, a lot of pop, pop, pop, pop, one shot after the other."

Afterward, he saw the sidewalks littered with the wounded, including one person "dripping enough blood to leave a stream."

After the shootout, crowds of tourists and people on their way to work gathered along 34th Street, which was shut down by police. Police helicopters buzzed overhead and swarms of officers were gathered around the crime scene.

Gunman shot victim in the head

Jeffrey Johnson, 58, was laid off about a year ago from Hazan Imports. He fired three times at the company's 41-year-old office manager, shooting the man in the head, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

The two had traded accusations of harassment when Johnson worked there, he said.

'It took about 15 seconds, a lot of pop, pop, pop, pop, one shot after the other.' —Marc Engel, witness

Johnson walked away, and a construction worker who saw the shooting followed Johnson and alerted police, officials said.

Surveillance video footage shows Johnson reaching into a bag, pulling out a .45-calibre pistol and pointing it at officers, Kelly said. The officers drew their weapons and started firing, killing Johnson, Kelly said.

Kelly initially said that Johnson fired on officers, but police said later they were trying to determine whether Johnson actually fired shots.

The two officers fired a total of 14 rounds, he said. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said some of the nine wounded may have been shot by police in the mayhem.

"We do know that the victim is dead and that the perpetrator is dead," added Bloomberg, stressing that it is too early to answer many important questions. "Details are going to change."

Johnson's semi-automatic weapon was equipped to fire at least eight rounds; at least one round was left in the clip, police said.

Johnson worked at the company near the building for about six years and was laid off because of downsizing, Kelly said.

Witnesses describe the chaos

"We were just working here and we just heard bang, bang, bang!" said Mohammed Bachchu, 22, of Queens, a worker at a nearby souvenir shop. He said he rushed from the building and saw seven people lying on the ground, covered in blood.


Social Media

Some of the first reports of the shooting were from eyewitnesses at the scene posting to Twitter. See the social media roundup.

Queens resident Rebecca Fox, 27, said she saw people running down the street and initially thought it was a celebrity sighting, but then saw a woman shot in the foot and a man dead on the ground.

"I was scared and shocked and literally shaking," she said. She said police seemed to appear in seconds. "It was like CSI, but it was real."

Hassam Cissa, 22, of the Bronx, said he saw two bodies on the ground and police applying a white cloth to a man's stomach wound.

Gunshots so close to one of the city's leading tourist attractions immediately prompted fears of terrorism, but federal officials said that wasn't the case, and a guard at the skyscraper said it didn't involve the parts of the building where tourists gather to visit the skyscraper.

Shooting follows Times Square threat

The gunfire came less than two weeks after a knife-wielding man was shot dead by police near Times Square, another tourist-saturated part of the city.

Authorities say police shot 51-year-old Darrius Kennedy after he lunged at officers with a kitchen knife Aug. 12. Kennedy was smoking marijuana in Times Square on a Saturday afternoon when officers first approached, police said.

It was the beginning of an encounter that would stretch for seven crowded blocks.

In 1997, a gunman opened fire on the 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building, killing one tourist and wounding six others before fatally shooting himself.

© The Associated Press, 2012

source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/08/24/empire-state-building-shooting.html

 

[findingmyway]

I don't understand why Americans are so against changing the gun laws?!!

 

[linzer]

The sensible people aren't. The dialog about gun control, or should I say lack of dialog is manipulated through fear by those corporations that manufature arms.

 

[Kanwaljit.Singh]

There are no widespread protests against gun laws. This should have been coming. But I am not as much against gun laws as much as I am against the faulty screening of gun owners.

Personally I believe if you have a gun license, you have to subject yourself to an annual diagnosis with a psychiatrist. Or it will be cancelled. I know this idea will fail due to the huge medical cost it entails!

 

[Luckysingh]

Still difficult!!!

The real smart ones who 'intend' to abuse their license and kill, will be smart enough to fool the psychiatrists.
There is no stopping them, however when they are caught, then they pretend to expose mental problems so as to get a lesser sentence or be sectioned under mental health acts instead of doing life in prison or going in for death row.

 

[linzer]

Here's an a editorial from NY times on the subject
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/opinion/collins-arms-and-the-duck.html?_r=1&ref=gailcollins