Several People Shot Outside Empire State Building

[garbon]

So disgruntled former employee:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/multiple-people-hit-shooting-near-empire-state-building-133611266.html

Nine people were wounded and two people were dead Friday after a shooting outside the Empire State Building in the Midtown area of Manhattan. The two victims included the gunman, who was shot and killed by police near the tourist entrance of the landmark skyscraper.

The shooting occurred at 9:03 a.m. ET at Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. The gunman, a 53 year-old women's accessories designer named Jeffrey Johnson, was fired from his job during a corporate downsizing at Hazan Imports and returned to his office Friday morning to target his 41 year-old boss.

The shooter followed his coworker down 33rd Street, and shot him outside of Legend's Bar, according to the New York Post. It is unclear if he fired into a crowd of pedestrians outside of the Empire State Building, or if pedestrians were caught in crossfire, reported the New York Daily News.

A construction worker who witnessed the shooting followed the suspect and then alerted police who were posted nearby. As the officers approached Johnston, he pulled his gun and fired on the officers. They returned fire and killed him, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

None of the other people who were shot were seriously wounded and that they are all expected to recover. Some of those wounded may have been hit by NYPD gunfire, Bloomberg said.

Police cordoned off a one-block perimeter around the Empire State Building after the shooting. Around 10 a.m., a lone tourist bus headed down Fifth Avenue, and a guide could be heard over the bus's mic explaining they were nearing the landmark. As police waved the bus to detour down 36th Street, the guide was openly mystified. "I don't know what's going on, folks," he said, as the bus turned. By then the bus's passengers were looking up at the sky at a news helicopter floating overhead. Some stood, clutching their cameras.

Along 35th street, hundreds of people stood photographing the scene with iPhones and iPads. Officers could be seen standing in the middle of 34th street around a scene surrounded by police tape. Television producers roamed the crowd looking for witnesses. "Was anybody here when this happened? Was anybody here when this happened?" one NBC producer yelled.

Eyewitnesses told CNN that the gunman was using a rifle or shotgun.

Word of the shooting spread rapidly on social media networks.

"On 5th avenue surrounded by helicopters and police," @CeciliaHalling wrote on Twitter. "I'm very glad I wasn't 20 blocks further down half an hour ago."

We'll update this story as more details are known.

[dps]

I was going to do that, but decided against it just in case it was brown people.

Possible, but I'm sure most of the people working in the Empire State Building are white.

It's breivik conviction day, I wanted to wait with the snark until after we know if it was political or racist.

Disgruntled ex-employee, so apparantly neither.

You know, they really should pass a law making it a crime to just shoot people dead on the street because you lost your job--oh, wait.

[PRC]

Let's take the guns away from all law abiding citizens so only criminals have guns!!!!

That should make them easy to identify.

[lustindarkness]

Shootings suck.


BTW, in that last article Garbon posted, I like how they included:

Police cordoned off a one-block perimeter around the Empire State Building after the shooting. Around 10 a.m., a lone tourist bus headed down Fifth Avenue, and a guide could be heard over the bus's mic explaining they were nearing the landmark. As police waved the bus to detour down 36th Street, the guide was openly mystified. "I don't know what's going on, folks," he said, as the bus turned. By then the bus's passengers were looking up at the sky at a news helicopter floating overhead. Some stood, clutching their cameras.

[garbon]

I thought that too. Human interest piece.

When just getting lunch at Rockefeller Center - saw a bunch of tourists talking about how they were there instead of Empire state today.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Let's take the guns away from all law abiding citizens so only criminals have guns!!!!

let's just put everyone in jail, that way you'll be taking guns only from criminals :p

[Martim Silva]

Disgruntled ex-employee, so apparantly neither.

You know, they really should pass a law making it a crime to just shoot people dead on the street because you lost your job--oh, wait.

Actually, I would like to ask the Americans here in this forum how is it like to actually live your day to day life, knowing an 'Active Shooter Event' can happen at any time... (I mean, that's what, three or four shootings in the last 10 days?).

How do you cope, kowing that the guy that is being fired can come back tomorrow and shoot the beejeezus out of everybody in the company?

It's really mind-boggling to me...

[MadImmortalMan]

Disgruntled ex-employee, so apparantly neither.

You know, they really should pass a law making it a crime to just shoot people dead on the street because you lost your job--oh, wait.

Actually, I would like to ask the Americans here in this forum how is it like to actually live your day to day life, knowing an 'Active Shooter Event' can happen at any time... (I mean, that's what, three or four shootings in the last 10 days?).

How do you cope, kowing that the guy that is being fired can come back tomorrow and shoot the beejeezus out of everybody in the company?

It's really mind-boggling to me...

I don't think you're a real person.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Disgruntled ex-employee, so apparantly neither.

You know, they really should pass a law making it a crime to just shoot people dead on the street because you lost your job--oh, wait.

Actually, I would like to ask the Americans here in this forum how is it like to actually live your day to day life, knowing an 'Active Shooter Event' can happen at any time... (I mean, that's what, three or four shootings in the last 10 days?).

How do you cope, kowing that the guy that is being fired can come back tomorrow and shoot the beejeezus out of everybody in the company?

It's really mind-boggling to me...

You Euros like to go for the big bang, every few decades with your world wars. We like to just keep it low scale and maybe even things out a little.  It's a matter of taste I guess.

[Razgovory]

Disgruntled ex-employee, so apparantly neither.

You know, they really should pass a law making it a crime to just shoot people dead on the street because you lost your job--oh, wait.

Actually, I would like to ask the Americans here in this forum how is it like to actually live your day to day life, knowing an 'Active Shooter Event' can happen at any time... (I mean, that's what, three or four shootings in the last 10 days?).

How do you cope, kowing that the guy that is being fired can come back tomorrow and shoot the beejeezus out of everybody in the company?

It's really mind-boggling to me...

I live every day in crippling fear for my life.  Not from crazed gunmen.  That would be silly.  Time Travelers are the real danger.  You never know when the person sitting next to you is from the future and knows exactly what you are going to to do.

[Valmy]

Actually, I would like to ask the Americans here in this forum how is it like to actually live your day to day life, knowing an 'Active Shooter Event' can happen at any time... (I mean, that's what, three or four shootings in the last 10 days?).

How do you cope, kowing that the guy that is being fired can come back tomorrow and shoot the beejeezus out of everybody in the company?

It's really mind-boggling to me...

There is actually very little gun violence in this country outside of a few urban hotspots.  I have never actually heard or seen a gun fired outside of a sports context.  And I live in Texas.

[Habbaku]

Disgruntled ex-employee, so apparantly neither.

You know, they really should pass a law making it a crime to just shoot people dead on the street because you lost your job--oh, wait.

Actually, I would like to ask the Americans here in this forum how is it like to actually live your day to day life, knowing an 'Active Shooter Event' can happen at any time... (I mean, that's what, three or four shootings in the last 10 days?).

How do you cope, kowing that the guy that is being fired can come back tomorrow and shoot the beejeezus out of everybody in the company?

It's really mind-boggling to me...

Crime doesn't exist in Portugal, eh?

[Habbaku]

There is actually very little gun violence in this country outside of a few urban hotspots.  I have never actually heard or seen a gun fired outside of a sports context.  And I live in Texas.

Ditto, and I'm in one of the most gun-heavy/gun-friendly parts of a gun-heavy/gun-friendly state (Georgia).

[Razgovory]

Disgruntled ex-employee, so apparantly neither.

You know, they really should pass a law making it a crime to just shoot people dead on the street because you lost your job--oh, wait.

Actually, I would like to ask the Americans here in this forum how is it like to actually live your day to day life, knowing an 'Active Shooter Event' can happen at any time... (I mean, that's what, three or four shootings in the last 10 days?).

How do you cope, kowing that the guy that is being fired can come back tomorrow and shoot the beejeezus out of everybody in the company?

It's really mind-boggling to me...

Crime doesn't exist in Portugal, eh?

It does, but it's the type of crime that Martim is in on.

[garbon]

Disgruntled ex-employee, so apparantly neither.

You know, they really should pass a law making it a crime to just shoot people dead on the street because you lost your job--oh, wait.

Actually, I would like to ask the Americans here in this forum how is it like to actually live your day to day life, knowing an 'Active Shooter Event' can happen at any time... (I mean, that's what, three or four shootings in the last 10 days?).

How do you cope, kowing that the guy that is being fired can come back tomorrow and shoot the beejeezus out of everybody in the company?

It's really mind-boggling to me...

How is it to live your life in a country whose total population could basically fit in the 5 boroughs of New York?