NY State Shooting

[scouse mac]

A gunman has killed 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.

Pakistani Taleban leader Baitullah Mehsud called the BBC in Islamabad to claim responsibility for the attack. He gave no evidence to corroborate the claim.

President Barack Obama, in Europe for a Nato summit, said he was "shocked and saddened" by the attack's "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. The man believed to have carried out the attack was found dead with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, he said. Ammunition, two more hand guns and a hunting knife were recovered from the scene.

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, whose congressional district includes Binghamton.

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. 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.

Binghamton is the latest American town trying to come to terms with a mass shooting. Last week it was Carthage, North Carolina. The week before Samson, Alabama.
With the red and blue lights of police cars flashing through the drizzle, smokers huddle in doorways on Main Street. There is only one topic of conversation. "It's a very good area, I would never think that it would happen here," said Martine Youmans.

The words and the scenes are increasingly familiar for Americans. On local talk radio stations the chatter has already turned to gun law, still as divisive an issue as ever. One caller's plea: "Don't let them take away our guns."


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.

Police later raided the home of the suspected gunman and removed items including computer hard drives and a rifle bag, reports said.

Local hospitals have said about 30 people are being treated.

RECENT US SHOOTINGS
March 2009: A gunman kills a total of 11 people in a series of shootings southern Alabama
Dec 2008: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus kills nine people and himself on Christmas Eve in LA
Sept 2008: Six people die in a series of shootings in the north-west of Washington state
June 2008: A worker at a plastics plant in Kentucky kills five people before killing himself
Apr 2007: 32 people and the gunman die at the Virginia Tech campus



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."

[scouse mac]

When are the gun regulations in the US going to be sorted out?

The whole right to bear arms thing is not relevant in the modern age, maybe when back in the day when the country was still new and finding its feet after independance but not now!

[bloody_ribcut]

guns dont kill people, i do.

[AsylumArtefacts]

Originally Posted by scouse mac

When are the gun regulations in the US going to be sorted out?

The whole right to bear arms thing is not relevant in the modern age, maybe when back in the day when the country was still new and finding its feet after independance but not now!

I read somewhere that last year in the US 247 gunmen were stopped(shot) by a civilian as opposed to 30 something by a police officer, i,m wondering is it to late to try and regulate guns in the US, i mean how much worse would have those 247 incidents been if the gunmen could have continued until the police arrived? makes you wonder

[scouse mac]

Originally Posted by AsylumArtefacts

I read somewhere that last year in the US 247 gunmen were stopped(shot) by a civilian as opposed to 30 something by a police officer, i,m wondering is it to late to try and regulate guns in the US, i mean how much worse would have those 247 incidents been if the gunmen could have continued until the police arrived? makes you wonder

I take your point but if the 247 gunmen didnt have access to guns in the first place they couldnt go on a rampage.

[AsylumArtefacts]

Yeah true, the problem is gangsters and maniacs will always have access to illegal weaponary, as the good sameritan won't, they tried it in OZ it hasn't stopped the recent spate of shooting's here and as things slowly get worse i think we'll see what a "disarmed" country fends like with the gangsters and maniacs still running around armed to the teeth. Oh by the way i,m not a gun lobbyst in any way just incase you were wondering just looking on both sides of the coin that's all.