2 people killed, 7 wounded in shooting rampage at Empire State Building

A downtown worker in New York went on a shooting spree this morning, killing two of his co-workers and wounding seven innocent bystanders before he himself got taken out by an NYPD patrolman. Details are still coming in, but you can get some of the basic facts from the New York Post:

New York Post wrote:

A disgruntled worker stalked a colleague down a Midtown street, shot him dead and then turned his weapon on random pedestrians outside the Empire State Building — killing at least one innocent bystander and shooting up to seven others before he was cut down by a cop on foot patrol, sources told The Post.

The 9 a.m. mayhem sent commuters and tourists in a panicked scramble from the jam-packed intersection of 34th Street and Fifth Avenue.

“This is the last thing you are expecting to see walking to work – someone shot dead in broad daylight in Midtown,” said Sid Dinsay, 38, who works in a PR firm on Fifth Avenue.

“I am shocked – something like this is enough to rattle your nerves. My nerves are rattled right now.”

The gunman followed his victim down 33rd Street before opening fire outside Legend’s Bar. the sources said.

With his target dead, he then headed over to the Empire State Building and did the unthinkable — unleashing a fusillade of shots in the heart of the morning rush on a street loaded with pedestrians.

EDIT: Just checked the Post homepage again; the number of wounded now stands at 8.

EDIT #2: Now it's 9 wounded. This story just keeps getting worse by the hour, if not the minute.

More info from the Post on the shooting: The bastard who did it has been ID'ed as 53-year-old Jeffrey Johnson, who got fired last year from a company called Hazan Imports that's based just around the corner from the Empire State Building.

As some people here may remember, I work a block from there, and I walk right by it every morning and get my breakfast at the McDonald's across the street on Fifth Ave. If this had happened 20-25 minutes earlier... As it was, though, I was in my office through it all and can't provide much more first-hand information than anyone else. [We could hear helicopters all morning, and the area was still taped off around 1 but not 5pm. That's about it.]

That said, the information being reported has changed somewhat since Chris's last post. It now looks like Johnson shot his former boss and was walking away when someone pointed him out to cops. They confronted him, he started to draw his gun, and they opened fire. It's not certain if he got off even one shot, which means that at least most, and possibly all, of the injured bystanders were shot by the NYPD.

Yep.

Quote :

The bystanders were likely hit by police officers’ stray gunfire, some of them bullets that rebounded off of planters in front of the skyscraper and grazed pedestrians. The two officers fired 16 shots, but police believe Johnson only pointed the gun at them and didn’t fire, investigators said.

Sounds about right for NYPD.

Penguin wrote:

Yep.

Quote :

The bystanders were likely hit by police officers’ stray gunfire, some of them bullets that rebounded off of planters in front of the skyscraper and grazed pedestrians. The two officers fired 16 shots, but police believe Johnson only pointed the gun at them and didn’t fire, investigators said.

Sounds about right for NYPD.

Jesus Christ.

Keep the firearms out of officer hands. Put them into the hands of 14 year olds who play way too much Call of Duty. They can properly utilize them.

Seriously, if you can't be bothered to aim, just don't fire your weapon in the first place. It's the first rule of golf (and hockey, and, so I hear, sex), goddammit.

Random nobody mows down 8 people, they call it a mass shooting. When someone with a badge does it, it's heroism.