40 People Taken Hostage In New York

[AtariLegend]

About 40 people have been taken hostage and several others shot in the US state of New York, say reports.

Unconfirmed local media reports said a number of people have been killed during the incident.

The hostages were in the buildings of the American Civic Association (ACA) in Binghamton, north of New York City, when the gunman entered.

Police are reported to have entered the building and taken away two people. Some hostages have now been released.

"About 15 or so employees of the Civic Association came out crying with their hands behind their heads and they were escorted by the police," one witness told the Binghamton's WNBF Radio.

Television footage showed four people being carried from the scene on stretchers. Their condition was not known.

The Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin said homes nearby were being evacuated and a police commando unit was at the scene.

It said apartments and a nearby school and care home were under lockdown and some streets had been sealed off.

Eyewitness reported seeing a man of Asian appearance in his 20s entering the building.

He was described by local media as being 1.6m to 1.8m (5ft 8in to 6ft) and wearing a bright green nylon jacket and dark-rimmed glasses.

Mayor Matthew Ryan told reporters the gunman was carrying a high-powered rifle.

A spokeswoman at a local hospital said at least one person was being treated for unspecified injuries.

"We're on full alert anticipating we're going to get additional casualties," said Linda Miller at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.

The ACA says on its website that it assists immigrants and refugees with personal and immigration counselling.

Bob Joseph of WNBF Radio told the BBC the town had never experienced an incident on such a scale before.


Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7982444.stm

[GypsySoul]

They just reported that the gunman shot and killed 13 people before he killed himself.

[Jim Bob]

what a fucked up world

[SLCPUNK]

Business as usual....

[ppbebe]

BINGHAMTON, NY (AP) -- ABC News reports the gunman in a standoff at an immigration services center has been shot and killed.

ABC says 13, the number possibly including the gunman, were killed at the American Civic Association and 26 wounded in the rampage which began Friday morning when a man blocked the back door of the building with his car before walking through the front door firing.

As many as 41 were taken hostage during the ordeal. Nearby apartments and a high school were evacuated.

The gunman had a high-powered rifle, Mayor Matthew Ryan told a local newspaper. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press two handguns had been recovered at the scene.

When the shooting started, people escaped to the basement in search of safety. More than a dozen people were hiding in a closet for more than an hour.

The American Civic Association's Web site said it helps immigrants and refugees with counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification, interpreters, and translators.

http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=57281&catid=2

[ppbebe]

http://www.necn.com/Boston/Nation/2009/04/03/ABC-Binghamton-gunman-shoots/1238783622.html

[Bandita]

Sigh.  I can't wait to read the supposed reasoning for this.

[Bandita]

Apparently there was a large congregation of Vietnamese immigrants in the building at the time and they were trying to get a translator for negotiation. 

[Annie]

Very sad.

[C0ma]

Apparently there was a large congregation of Vietnamese immigrants in the building at the time and they were trying to get a translator for negotiation. 

Were they the target?

[Bandita]

Apparently there was a large congregation of Vietnamese immigrants in the building at the time and they were trying to get a translator for negotiation. 

Were they the target?

I have no idea as I cannot begin to get into the mind of someone who does things such as this.

[ppbebe]

Syracuse, NY.------Today's shooting at a Binghamton refugee center that killed 14 people dead hit close to home for officials at three refugee centers in Syracuse.

Officials at refugee centers run by the Syracuse school district, Catholic Charities of Onondaga County and Interfaith Works of Central New York said they were shocked to learn that a refugee/immigrant would open fire on a center that serves so many people who survived war and other injustices in their homelands.

Police said Jiverly Voong, of nearby Johnson City, opened fire in a room where immigrants were taking a citizenship exam at the American Civic Association building.

Voong, 42, who later killed himself, barricaded a rear front door of the building with his car before entering through the front door, firing his weapon, police said. Authorities said Voong had recently been laid off from IBM.

"It was really shocking, this is not good,'' said Jasenko Mondom, a job developer with the school district's Refugee Family Program on Park Street. "Everyone is shocked, a couple of people left work. Many received calls from family and friends to see what's going on, if they're okay.''

Some teachers talked about calling the district to ask for additional security measure, Mondom said.

Law officer: Suspected Binghamton gunman had ID saying he was 42-year-old Jiverly Voong.

School superintendent Daniel Lowengard said the district wants to review the facts of the Binghamton shooting to determine whether the district needs to reevaluate safety measures in all its schools. The Refugee Family Program offers adult English classes, enrolls refugee children and city schools and helps refugees find jobs.

Interfaith Works stopped resettling refugees in Binghamton a year ago, but the agency continues to help refugees there process immigration paperwork to bring their families to America, said Hope Wallis, director of the Center for New Americans, the agency which resettles refugees. The Center for New Americans has no relationship with the Binghamton center, she said.

So far, Wallis and other officials say they don't know if any of the victims have family ties to Syracuse. Officials spent most of the day calling some refugees in Syracuse to see if they have relatives or no relatives of any of the victims.

Catholic Charities has a safety and evacuation plan for all its center including Northside CYO, the agency on North Salina Street that runs the refugee program, said Toni Maxwell, director of development and public relations for Catholic Charities.

"It seems clear to us that this is an isolated incident, but we'll certainly be more aware in days to come, '' she said. "We don't see any of our centers in danger.''

http://blog.syracuse.com/metrovoices/2009/04/syracuse_nytodays_shooting_at.html

[Bandita]

Lost his job, eh?

[C0ma]

Apparently there was a large congregation of Vietnamese immigrants in the building at the time and they were trying to get a translator for negotiation. 

Were they the target?

I have no idea as I cannot begin to get into the mind of someone who does things such as this.

I was just wondering... there was mention that they assist political refugees, so I was wondering if a specific group of foreign nationals was targeted for a political reason.

[Bandita]

There seems to be some confusion as to what the guy's actual name is and now they are saying he didn't work for IBM.  I would give it a day or two for them to sort it out.

[Bandita]

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5324JP20090404

Police say N.Y. immigrant shooter's act no surprise

Sat Apr 4, 2009 2:42pm EDT
 
BINGHAMTON, New York (Reuters) - Authorities identified the gunman who killed 13 people and himself at an immigrant services center on Friday as Jiverly Wong, 41, a Vietnamese immigrant who had taken English classes there.

Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said on Saturday no motive for the shooting had been determined, but he confirmed reports that Wong, who also went by the name Voong, had felt degraded by his inability to speak English and by a recent job loss.

"From the people close to him ... this action he took was not a surprise to them," Zikuski told a news conference.

"He felt degraded from his inability to speak English and he was upset about that," he added.

The city has received inquiries from representatives of nine countries and two consulates about the victims, whose identities have not yet been released, Mayor Matthew Ryan said.

On Friday morning, Wong barricaded the back door of the building with a car and, wearing body armor, entered the front and opened fire on two receptionists, killing one. He then went to a classroom and fired, killing another 12 people who were taking English language instruction before killing himself.

Zikuski said the massacre was over quickly, before police had even arrived at the scene, where they removed dozens of survivors who hid from the carnage. Survivors said Wong did not speak before opening fire. The four wounded, including a receptionist who called police, were expected to survive.

The massacre in Binghamton, a town of some 45,000 people about 150 miles northwest of New York City, was the worst U.S. mass shooting since the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech.

"That this tragedy should have happened in our community to our friends who only wanted to advance their knowledge and love of America is unbearable," a spokeswoman for the American Civic Association said in a statement.

The American Civic Association building is used to teach English and provide other services to recent immigrants to the United States who are preparing for U.S. citizenship.

There have been several mass shootings in recent years in the United States, where guns are widely available for purchase and the right to own weapons is enshrined in the Constitution.

Zikuski said Wong was "heavily armed" and had held a permit since 1995 or 1997 for two handguns recovered at the scene.

Last month a man killed 10 people, many of them family members, in a shooting rampage in Alabama, and on Saturday several police officers were shot and some reportedly killed in Pittsburgh.

[western_chaos]

Well what a wonderful world we live in.