A shooting occurred Friday morning outside the Empire State Building on 34th Street in New York City, according to police. Two people are reportedly dead, including the gunman. Emergency personnel received a call about the shooting just after 9 am. The motive of the shooting is not yet clear. The shooting follows a killing spree last night in the south and west sides of Chicago, in which 19 people were shot in just 30 minutes, including seven men and one woman, 14 to 20 years old. Chicago homicides have skyrocketed in the past few months.
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NYScanner’s Twitter is reporting the gunman was recently fired from his job.
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WNBC: Empire State Building shooting was “a workplace dispute that spilled out onto the street”
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Witnesses say the two coworkers fought on the sidewalk before one pulled out a gun and opened fire, killing a female bystander and shooting several others.
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This post has been revised with an updated casualty count. Reports now say 3 people have died.
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Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the police plan to give a briefing at 11 am.
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FDNY confirms there are 10 patients — 4 minor injuries, 4 not urgent, 2 dead. It is unclear if these were all gunshot wounds.
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AP reports the gunman killed his ex-coworker before opening fire on bystanders. The shooter used to work at a store inside the Empire State Building.
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The Wall Street Journal reports the gunman worked at a firm inside the Empire State Building.
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The suspect is Jeffrey Johnson, age 53. He was fired from his job as a designer of women’s accessories at Hazan Imports (not inside the building) during downsizing last year.
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Mayor Bloomberg says some bystanders may have been accidentally shot by police officers in the crossfire with the gunman. Johnson used a .45 caliber pistol with a magazine holding 8 rounds.
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Bloomberg concluded the press conference by reiterating his message from his radio show earlier this morning: “Once again, there are an awful lot of guns out there.”
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