8 wounded at Empire State Building, 2 dead after coworker

8 wounded at Empire State Building, 2 dead after coworker dispute ends in gun battle
By LARRY CELONA, JAMIE SCHRAM, ISABEL VINCENT and DAVID SEIFMAN
Last Updated: 10:04 AM, August 24, 2012
A dispute between coworkers exploded into gunfire outside the Empire State Building this morning — with the guman killing an innocent bystander before he was fatally shot by police, sources said.
There were a total of 10 people struck — and the 9 a.m. shooting sent panicked pedestrians scrambling 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.”
It’s unclear what sparked the deadly argument, which happened in the heart of the morning rush on a street loaded with commuters and tourists.
The two men fought right on the sidewalk before one suddenly drew his weapon and opened fire.
Responding NYPD cops fatally shot the gunman.
The shot bystanders include a female who died from her wounds, the sources said. Others were shot in the buttocks and legs.
The victims were taken to St. Luke’s Hospital and Bellevue Hospital.
The FBI is assisting in the investigation, which has caused a traffic nightmare in Midtown that has effectively shut down all of the streets around the scene.
Eeerily, just minutes before the mayhem, Mayor Bloomberg was warning about the dangers of “too many guns on the streets” on his weekly radio show.
“The argument guns don’t kill people, people kill people is one of the most disingenuous things you can say,” he said shortrly before 9 a.m. while discussing tougher guns laws being proposed in Albany.
“It does take a person to pull the trigger, but if they didn’t have the gun... We are the only developed country in the world with this problem.”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manh ... z24TOw7huM
By LARRY CELONA, JAMIE SCHRAM, ISABEL VINCENT and DAVID SEIFMAN
Last Updated: 10:04 AM, August 24, 2012
A dispute between coworkers exploded into gunfire outside the Empire State Building this morning — with the guman killing an innocent bystander before he was fatally shot by police, sources said.
There were a total of 10 people struck — and the 9 a.m. shooting sent panicked pedestrians scrambling 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.”
It’s unclear what sparked the deadly argument, which happened in the heart of the morning rush on a street loaded with commuters and tourists.
The two men fought right on the sidewalk before one suddenly drew his weapon and opened fire.
Responding NYPD cops fatally shot the gunman.
The shot bystanders include a female who died from her wounds, the sources said. Others were shot in the buttocks and legs.
The victims were taken to St. Luke’s Hospital and Bellevue Hospital.
The FBI is assisting in the investigation, which has caused a traffic nightmare in Midtown that has effectively shut down all of the streets around the scene.
Eeerily, just minutes before the mayhem, Mayor Bloomberg was warning about the dangers of “too many guns on the streets” on his weekly radio show.
“The argument guns don’t kill people, people kill people is one of the most disingenuous things you can say,” he said shortrly before 9 a.m. while discussing tougher guns laws being proposed in Albany.
“It does take a person to pull the trigger, but if they didn’t have the gun... We are the only developed country in the world with this problem.”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manh ... z24TOw7huM