us BREAKING: Several people shot outside Empire State Building, NYC

[MDboyz]

This is what polices should do from now now. Shoot to kill !!!

[FlintyV]

Mayor Bloomberg just arrived on scene. Went into building across 5th Ave from #ESB, in conversation with police

Police confirm two deaths at the scene of the Empire State Building shooting, including the gunman. Ten people were injured, and have been taken to a number of hospitals in the city

[jakem1]

A blanket ban on articles about shootings in America would make more sense.

[DrakeN2k]

Such sad news :(

[Dan~]

Demented people and guns shouldn't be allowed out

[FlintyV]

State Senator Malcolm Smith tells local ABC News that he had spoken with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and according to the mayor, the shooter was a disgruntled employee who was fired yesterday and who returned to his place of work this morning with a gun.

The gunman shot his former manager dead, Smith said.

of Mayor Bloomberg to speak shortly.

[willgill]

This subject is truly tragic that impacts several people for the rest of their lives. I just hope we're equally passionate about steering this country in a better direction as a whole.

[t_r_nelson]

The media is running around like chickens with their heads cut off. It's become such a whorish industry where they try to 'break the story' first and then worry about facts later. A situation like this is so fluid that you can't get a straight story. All they should report is where it happened and if the situation is contained.

Oh ****! Bloomberg just suggested in his press conference that some people may have been shot by police accidentally when trying to stop the shooter.

Good news is that, other than the shooter and his intended victim, the other wounded do not have life-threatening injuries.

[Bryan R.]

Holy crap, police officers may have shot innocents by accident.

[Luis Mazza]

How long since the last shooting? One month? It was about time.

[Detection]

Apparently the cops shot some innocent bystanders before they shot the gunman.... the guy giving the annoucement skimmed over that fact with a 'but they'll be ok' type remark

9 caught in the crossfire "are not likely to die"

[KingCracker]

Apparently the cops shot some innocent bystanders before they shot the gunman.... the guy giving the annoucement skimmed over that fact with a 'but they'll be ok' type remark

9 caught in the crossfire "are not likely to die"

Seems like the cops need better training.

[theyarecomingforyou]

Apparently the cops shot some innocent bystanders before they shot the gunman.... the guy giving the annoucement skimmed over that fact with a 'but they'll be ok' type remark

9 caught in the crossfire "are not likely to die"

Unfortunately that's not even slightly surprising given how trigger happy US police officers seem to be. I mean, the other day they shot a person 46 times because he was carrying a knife. It's beyond crazy.

[Calum Veteran]

What makes me even more angry about this is that the manager was clearly in the right to fire him, yet he presumably was killed because the criminal thought his firing wasn't justified. As this man was capable of shooting to death someone who didn't deserve to be harmed or killed?capable of such a terrible act?he clearly didn't deserve the employment. No one with such unreasonable views (a view that it's okay to do this) deserves any employment, as they're a liability. After all, if they're capable of this, what else are they capable of?

So, this manager fired someone who deserved to be fired, yet he was murdered.

Whatever the manager did, he didn't deserve to be shot dead because no one ever deserves that. I am truly saddened, and my thoughts go out to his family, friends, and acquaintances. Rest in Peace.

A blanket ban on articles about shootings in America would make more sense.

I disagree. This is current news, and this section is Real World News. Discussion about different points that aren't related to gun control is still valid in such threads.

[Bryan R.]

Seems like the cops need better training.

Right, it seems absolutely unacceptable to me to have this much collateral damage. I wonder about these "anti-terrorism officers".

[Roger H. Veteran]

Seems like the cops need better training.

Or people should stop running when they here bullets flying all over the place that way the cops get a better aim at the person.

Eitherway, both statements are ridiculous.

This happened in NYC, at the empire state building and at that time of the morning, even that street is super crowded. If the gunman saw cops coming odds are he ran and the cops shot at him accidentally hitting others.

[FlintyV]

Police commissioner Ray Kelly describes the scene and identifies the shooter as Jeffrey Johnson, 53.

Johnson used a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun, Kelly says.

He shot his victim, 41, in the head. Then he put the gun in a black bag and walked from the scene. A construction worker followed the suspect and alerted to cops on post in front of the Empire State building.

The police officers approached Johnson. He pulled his gun and fired on the officers

An additional 9 individuals were shot in the exchange. None has life-threatening injuries. Two women and seven men.

The shooter was an employee of Hazan Imports for about six years. He was a designer of women's accessories. He was laid off about a year ago as part of downsizing.

[t_r_nelson]

Wow...laid off a year ago. Talk about holding a grudge.

[CG-88]

Apparently the cops shot some innocent bystanders before they shot the gunman.... the guy giving the annoucement skimmed over that fact with a 'but they'll be ok' type remark

9 caught in the crossfire "are not likely to die"

My god!! Stupid trigger happy police care so little they tried to skim over the fact they shot innocent bystanders! :@

Unfortunately that's not even slightly surprising given how trigger happy US police officers seem to be. I mean, the other day they shot a person 46 times because he was carrying a knife. It's beyond crazy.

True, that story was beyond rediculous.

[KingCracker]

Or people should stop running when they here bullets flying all over the place that way the cops get a better aim at the person.

Eitherway, both statements are ridiculous.

This happened in NYC, at the empire state building and at that time of the morning, even that street is super crowded. If the gunman saw cops coming odds are he ran and the cops shot at him accidentally hitting others.

You really think people will all the sudden just lay down when bullets are flying the fight or flight response kicks in.

[Haggis Veteran]

Or people should stop running when they here bullets flying all over the place that way the cops get a better aim at the person.

Eitherway, both statements are ridiculous.

This happened in NYC, at the empire state building and at that time of the morning, even that street is super crowded. If the gunman saw cops coming odds are he ran and the cops shot at him accidentally hitting others.

Maybe the cops could have used some level or force or weapon which could not potentially kill bystanders

[Roger H. Veteran]

You really think people will all the sudden just lay down when bullets are flying.the fight or flight response kicks in.

apparently I forgot my sarcasm tag....

:punch: - lol

Maybe the cops could have used some level or force or weapon which could not potentially kill bystanders

And no i'm not saying they shouldn't have used some restraint or something but what If they didn't shoot and he ran behind a group of people and shot a bunch more people while running away. Then people would have been screeming, "OH why didn't they shoot him right away instead of letting another 20 people get shot" or whatever.

Only 2 people died (I guess?) rest got injured accidentally because of bad decisions by cops or whatever.

Let's not try to displace blame however, the person who had a gun in the middle of the city shooting people is the person to blame here.

[FlintyV]

A nice summary from the Guardian:

The shooter, Jeffrey Johnson, 53, confronted the victim, a 41-year-old former coworker, on a sidewalk and shot him dead, striking him three times. The gunman concealed his .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun in a black bag and walked away from the scene, walking about two blocks.

? A construction worker followed the gunman and alerted officers near the Empire State Building.

? When two police officers confronted Johnson, he drew the gun and fired on them. The officers shot him dead. Nine others were wounded in the shootout, seven men and two women. The mayor said police have video of the confrontation between police and Johnson.

? None of the nine bystanders who were shot, some apparently by officers, has life-threatening injuries, the mayor said.

Seems like the police may have shot a few people.. :/

[Bryan R.]

Maybe the cops could have used some level or force or weapon which could not potentially kill bystanders

You realize that if they use lesser force to lessen collateral damage, that same lesser force could impede their ability to take down the suspect...

[FlintyV]

You realize that if they use lesser force to lessen collateral damage, that same lesser force could impede their ability to take down the suspect...

Not really as they're things like tasers.. but it seems like they'd need to be a better shot to be able to use that realistically.

You could even subtitle the bullets for rubber bullets. So they're are a few lesser lethal weapons which are I'd consider more appropriate than having a shootout in a crowded place.