New York Attack New York Times Jiverly Voong Binghamton NY Shooting Binghamton N.Y. Hostage NewYorkTimes News Latest
When the shoot out and the hostage drama in Binghamton, New York that began at 10:30 am on Friday and ended at 2:40 pm, at least 13 people lost their lives. The gunman, believed to be a Vietnamese killed himself. A dozen were injured. The shooter has identification saying he was 42-year-old Jiverly Voong.
When the events began to unfold at the American Civic Center in Binghamton, 175 miles north of New York there were more than 40 people inside as hostages, 15 in a closet and 26 in the boiler room. By noon some of them were released.
The gunman was between 5-feet 8-inches and 6 feet tall, wearing a bright green nylon jacket and dark-rimmed glasses. The services of professor who knows Vietnamese were used to speak with the shooter.
One official said the gunman entered the building through the front while firing. He had already blocked the back door with his car. According to reports, a 1993 Toyota [Images] at the scene was registered to Henry Voong of Johnson City.
One woman who worked as a secretary at the Center was reportedly shot in the stomach. Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan said the shooter had a high-powered rifle.
Police shut down streets and the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent a team.
Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said no one taken from the building is a suspect, including two men who were removed in plastic handcuffs. A report of a man fleeing the building was false, Zikuski said.
A student from Binghamton University was being treated at the emergency room at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton. Most of the students left the university Friday morning as the university is closed for the Easter holidays. Binghamton University, in nearby Vestal, is part of the State University of New York and is a major destination of Indian students.
The American Civic Association helps immigrants and refugees with immigration and personal counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification and translators. It also intervenes with emergencies, including fighting, hunger and homelessness. The ACA had citizenship classes scheduled for Friday.
The incident has given another opportunity for those who oppose immigrants. The readers comments in the local media were full of comments against the immigrants.
In a statement New York Governor David Paterson said it was a tragic day for New York. He said he had directed state police to assist the Binghamton Police Department. "I speak for all of New York when I offer my prayers for the victims and families of this tragedy," Paterson said. VIA REDIFF
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A gunman opened fire on a center where immigrants were taking a citizenship exam on Friday in downtown Binghamton, New York, killing
New York hostage crisis
New York state police surround the building in Binghamton where a gunman held dozens hostage. (AFP Photo)
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13 people before committing suicide. ( Watch )
The suspected gunman carried identification with the name of 42-year-old Jiverly Voong of nearby Johnson City, New York, a law enforcement official said. But the name is an alias that the man has used in the past, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly and was talking on condition of anonymity.
"It obviously was premeditated," said Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski, noting the gunman blocked the rear exit with his car. "He made sure nobody could escape."
Police did not mention a motive. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, whose district includes Binghamton, said the gunman had recently been let go from IBM in Johnson City.
The man entered a foyer at the American Civic Association and shot two receptionists, Zikuski said. One receptionist was killed, but another pretended to be dead, then crawled to a desk and called authorities, he said. Police responded within two minutes.
Zhanar Tokhtabayeva, a 30-year-old from Kazakhstan, said she was in an English class when she heard a shot and her teacher screamed for everyone to go to the storage room.
"I heard the shots, every shot. I heard no screams, just silence, shooting," she said. "I heard shooting, very long time ... and I was thinking, when will this stop? I was thinking that my life was finished."
The gunman entered a room just off the reception area and continued firing, the chief said. He fired on a citizenship class, Hinchey said.
"People were there in the process of being tested for their citizenship," Hinchey said in a telephone interview. "It was in the middle of a test. He just went in and opened fire."
Twenty-six people hid in the boiler room and 37 people were safely removed from the building, Zikuski said. Four people are in critical condition.
Most of the people brought out of the building couldn't speak English, the chief said.
The suspect's body was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an office, according to the law enforcement official who reported the man's identification.
Waiting outside a Catholic Charities office where counselors were tending to relatives of victims, Omri Yigal said his wife, Delores, was taking English lessons when the gunman attacked. He had no word on what happened to her.
"At this point, I know the scale of what happened, but I just hope Delores is OK," the Filipino immigrant said. "I haven't got any information. ... The only thing I have right now is hope."
The gunman's connection to the center isn't clear, Hinchey said. "One of the first questions is going to be, what motivated this?" he said. "What caused this to happen? What was the kind of person who did it?"
A woman who answered the phone at a listing for Henry D. Voong said she was Jiverly Voong's sister but would not give her name.
Asked if she was aware that he might have been involved in the shooting, she said: "How? He didn't have a gun. I think somebody involved, not him. I think he got shot by somebody else."
"I think there's a misunderstanding over here because I want to know, too," she said.
In Baden-Baden, Germany, President Barack Obama said he was shocked and saddened by the deadly mass shooting, calling it an "act of senseless violence."
The president, who is traveling in Europe, said he and his wife, Michelle, were praying for the victims, their families and the people of Binghamton.
The American Civic Association helps immigrants in the Binghamton area with naturalization applications, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The association describes itself as helping immigrants and refugees with counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification and translators.
Alex Galkin, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, said he was taking his English classes when he heard a shot and quickly went to the basement with 20 other people.
"It was just panic," Galkin said. The association's president, Angela Leach, "is very upset right now," said Mike Chanecka, a friend who answered a call at her home as Leach wept in the background.
"She doesn't know anything; she's as shocked as anyone," Chanecka said. "For some reason, she had the day off today. And she's very worried about her secretary."
At the junction of the Susquehanna and the Chenango rivers, the Binghamton area was the home to Endicott-Johnson shoe company and the birthplace of IBM, which between them employed tens of thousands of workers before the shoe company closed a decade ago and IBM downsized in recent years. VIA TIMES OF INDIA
LIVE Video od NY Hostage
A gunman has killed at least 13 people after taking dozens hostage in the US state of New York.
The suspected gunman was later found dead inside the immigration centre in Binghamton, police officials said.
Nearly 40 people escaped from the building but four were critically injured in the shooting, north-west of New York City, police said.
President Barack Obama, in Europe for a Nato summit, said he was "shocked and saddened" by the "senseless violence".
Mr Obama said his administration was "actively monitoring the situation" and that Vice-President Joe Biden was in touch with officials in Binghamton.
The town's police chief, Joseph Zikuski, told a news conference that 14 people had been found dead in the American Civic Association (ACA) buildings and he had "very good reason to believe that the shooter was among the dead".
Mr Zikuski said one of the bodies found in the building was wearing a satchel containing ammunition. Two handguns had been recovered from the scene, he added.
Democratic Congressman Maurice Hinchey told AP the gunman had entered a room where people were sitting exams for US citizenship.
"It was in the middle of a test. He just went in and opened fire," said Mr Hinchey, who represents New York's 22nd District, which includes Binghamton.
The BBC's Matthew Price in Binghamton says people in the town are struggling to deal with the horror of what some have described as an "unbelievable" attack.
Wounded
Witnesses reported seeing a man entering the ACA building during the morning. He was described as being of Asian appearance, in his 20s, and wearing a bright green nylon jacket and dark-rimmed glasses.
People are taken away from the scene of the shooting in Binghamton, New York (03 April 2009)
The gunman, believed to have been a Vietnamese-American, used his car to barricade the building's back door before bursting in the front door, firing his weapon, said officials.
He shot two receptionists, one of whom managed to call the police, before walking down a corridor towards classrooms.
Police were on the scene in minutes - people in nearby apartments, a school and a care home were told to stay in their buildings and some streets were sealed off.
Mr Zikuski said 26 people took refuge in the building's basement after hearing gunshots.
Eyewitnesses described seeing some people fleeing the building.
"About 15 or so employees of the Civic Association came out crying with their hands behind their heads," one witness told Binghamton's WNBF Radio.
"They were escorted by the police and they took them to ambulances and took them away," he said.
Two other people were seen being led away by police in plastic handcuffs during the incident but officials later said they were not suspects.
'Profound outrage'
Local hospitals have said about 30 people are being treated.
A spokeswoman for Our Lady of Lourdes hospital told the BBC several people had been admitted with serious injuries.
The governor of New York state, David Paterson, said it had been "a tragic day for New York".
"This is a horrible situation. There's actually no reason or excuse for this kind of shooting and brutal attack on innocent people right here in New York state," he said.
Mr Paterson told a news conference there was "a profound sense of outrage at this senseless act of violence in which many innocent people were killed, injured and probably traumatised for some time to come".
He said many of the victims were not from the US and police were in the process of contacting their families living abroad.
New York State would offer any assistance to the victims, who had "wanted to be part of the American dream and so tragically may have had that hope thwarted today", said Mr Paterson.
"There still is an American dream and all of us who are Americans will try to heal this very, very deep wound in the city of Binghamton."
Our correspondent said police were picking through evidence in the building trying to determine what had happened and why.
Bob Joseph of WNBF Radio told the BBC the town had never experienced an incident on such a scale before.
The ACA says on its website that it assists immigrants and refugees with personal and immigration counselling. VIA BBC
The BBC Video Coverage
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