Empire State Shooting – The heart of New York City’s tourist district outside the Empire State Building exploded in violence this morning when a gunman opened fire on a co-worker, killing him, and then engaged in a shootout with police that resulted in 9 injuries. The shooter was killed by police.
The shooting, the latest in a string of shootings by unhinged gunmen across the country in recent weeks, occurred on 34th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue shortly after 9 a.m. on a street filled with New Yorkers hurrying to work and tourists milling about.
Police identified as Jeffery Johnson, 53, a white Manhattan resident who worked at Hazan Import Corporation, as a designer of women’s accessories. The victim who died at the scene was 41. His name is still being withheld.
“We are not immune to the national problem of gun violence,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference this morning. “At 9:03 this morning, in front of West 33rd street, a disgruntled employee killed a co-worker, hitting him three times.”
According to police, Johnson shot his co-worker with a .45 caliber handgun. After he shot the co-worker, a nearby construction worker followed Johnson and alerted two counter-terrorism officers near the Empire State Building. The officers approached Johnson, when he pulled the gun out and fired on the officers. They returned fire and killed him. Two women and seven men were wounded in the ensuing crossfire.
Bloomberg said that the nine injured likely would survive.
The FBI was on the scene, though authorities say there’s no connection to terrorism.
Bolden said people were running in panic but many were also taking pictures with their phones.
The attack is sure to create a deep wound in a city that still recalls the horror of September 11, 2001, when planes were flown into the World Trade Center. That a gunman would choose the city’s most famous landmark to create havoc will be unsettling to many city residents.
This summer has seen the nation engulfed in a wave of gun violence from coast to coast—the Batman shooting in Colorado, the shooting outside the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, the Sikh temple shooting in Milwaukee, and quite a few others. It remains to be seen whether the preponderance of violence will lead to any national discussions on gun control.
