Posted on 04/03/2009 3:06:49 PM PDT by neverdem
(Binghamton, N.Y. / ABC News) -- As many as 13 people have been shot dead and wounded dozens in a shooting rampage inside an upstate New York civic association building that caters to immigrants, according to federal and state authorities.
The gunman, Jiverly Voong, allegedly held dozens of people hostage for several hours before shooting himself to death, police said.
According to multiple state law enforcement officials, the gunman entered the one-story American Civic Association in downtown Binghamton about 10 a.m. today and began his shooting spree.
A senior law enforcement official told ABC News that 13 people were shot dead and 26 were wounded.
Officials said Voong entered the civic association armed with two heavy caliber automatic pistols -- a 9 mm and a .45 caliber handgun. He carried a bag filled with high capacity magazines, a survival knife and a flashlight, according to police.
Voong backed his car up to the rear door of the building to block any escape before he went to the front of the building and started to execute people, police said.
Voong, 41, also known as Linh Phat Voong, was from Johnson City, N.Y. He allegedly burst into the civic center wearing a bright green nylon jacket and dark-rimmed glasses and promptly shot the receptionist dead and then killed two other people. He then headed for another room of the civic association and opened fire again.
When the carnage was over, Voong's body was found on first the floor with a hunting knife jammed into the waistband of his pants.
"He shot those people? No. No," said a woman who identified herself as Voong's sister, but would not give her name when reached by ABC News.com.
She said her brother went to take classes today at the civic association and that she had not heard from him since. She said she did not know that he was involved in the shooting.
"I'm going to pass out," she said and hung up the phone.
Police also contacted Voong's sister to say her brother was dead. She told police that Voong was attending language classes at the civic center. She said Voong is a U.S. citizen and has been in this country for 28 years.
Voong had recently been laid off from IBM in Johnson City, U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat whose district includes Binghamton, told the Associated Press. The gunman opened fire on a citizenship class, he said.
"People were there in the process of being tested for their citizenship," Hinchey said. "It was in the middle of a test. He just went in and opened fire."
Several hours after the shooting began, hostages started exiting the building and police declared the gunman dead.
By 1:30 p.m., police began escorting people out of the building, but continued to treat the building as a crime scene where the shooter might still be lurking.
Eyewitness Account Eyewitness Nick Masucci, a community college student and Binghamton resident, said he watched as many as 20 people exit the building and get patted down by police.
"They look like immigrants, lots of different cultures coming out of there. Some people are getting patted down. The police are taking a lot of precautions, they're still taking cover," he said.
Several people were removed from the building on stretchers. Others left with their hands on their heads and were searched by police.
City councilman Martin Gerchman said he recently returned from the scene and said it looked like the building was "secure."
Earlier today police called Broome Community College to find someone who could speak fluent Vietnamese to "assist police with translation," said college spokesman Richard David.
Police, he said, did not indicated whether the translator, Professor Tuong Nguyen, was needed to speak with the shooter or with hostages, but believed the professor would be talking with the shooter.
Wilson Medical Center, the closest hospital to the site of the shootings, said three patients had been sent to its trauma center, one of them in critical condition.
One patient, according to a spokeswoman, had been brought to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
"We're on full alert anticipating we're going to get additional casualties," hospital spokeswoman Linda Miller said.
FBI Sent Hostage Negotiators People were told in nearby buildings to stay away from windows and Binghamton High School is under a lock-down as police are using the school as a staging area. The school is a block and a half away from the shooting site.
Ten ambulances were called to the scene and an FBI hostage rescue team is reportedly on the way.
"The FBI is providing assistance to the Binghamton Police Department," FBI spokesman Rich Kolko said. "FBI Albany has sent Hostage Negotiators, Evidence Response Team and Command Post assistance. This is a rapidly developing situation and we refer you to the Binghamton Police Department for any additional information."
The FBI and New York State Police sent hostage negotiators, evidence collection teams and investigators to support the efforts of the Binghamton police in securing the scene, collecting the evidence and guiding hostages and people who hid from the gunman to safety.
New York Gov. David Paterson said, "We are monitoring the situation and I have directed the State Police to assist the Binghamton Police Department in any way they can."
At the time of the shooting the civic association was holding citizenship classes.
Because it was a gun free zone, for the public safety.
On Anderson Cooper, one of the gals at the scene was saying he had permits for both guns.
This doesn’t sound right to me. Does she mean both guns were registered or is she trying to spin against CCW holders?
That doesn’t sound good at all.
Cuz there were no dogs to shoot. /s/
Wrong.
They are the ones committing the crimes. Let me make this clear. Out of every 10 I have to deal with, 8 are foreigners, or illegal aliens. Hope that clears things up.
Thanks bobby.
In NY, a permit can be granted to allow posession of a handgun on premises (no CCW) or it can be full CCW. Many “full CCW” permits are restricted by local judges to only posession + transport for target shooting/hunting. It is a very local thing. Whether this guy had a premises permit or full CCW (or restricted CCW) permit is unclear. Either way, the permit process was a complete failure. Of course in NY, that means they will just make the permit process more difficult, not make it shall issue (which they should do).
Also, the specific serial number handguns must be listed on your permit, so this guy apparently had one of these permits with both guns listed.
LLS
Then why the heck didn't the guy speak English?
Voong had recently been laid off from IBM in Johnson City, U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat whose district includes Binghamton, told the Associated Press. The gunman opened fire on a citizenship class, he said.
I don't think the IBM thing's correct. A report this morning said the IBM employee may have been the shooter's dad. The employer I heard mentioned this morning was a company I'd never heard of. The report said the shooter was an engineer who'd recently been let go.
I don't know how much anyone's actually nailed down yet. Here's a report stating the perp's an immigrant...
The killer-- believed to be a Vietnamese immigrant himself -- then entered a room just o the reception area and red on a citizenship class.
Well, they’ve got the wackdoodle thing in common, that’s for certain. Hopefully this is just the Taliban talking out its backside. But the trouble the cops are having nailing down the IDs and backrounds of the perp and some of the victims surely isn’t helping to clear this up.
14 Dead in Rampage in Binghamton, N.Y. (Perp had a NY pistol license with another alias)
If the license is legit: Way to go NYS!
This is FR... these days it is more important to be a jerk and attack other FReepers about some insignificant unproved fact than to accept the possibility that one’s position may be slightly in need of adjustment. Thank you for posting to me... I truly appreciate your comment.
Hey, we’re all at the mercy of the idiots in the MSM. And their reporting yesterday was worse than usual. Trust but verify’s my motto :)
I’m well aware of NY State’s draconian gun laws as I spent the first 46 of my 51 years as in Flushing, Queens and Bethpage, Nassau County.
I was being a wise guy with my post.
But I really am glad the shooter was not a white guy, as we would never hear the end of it.
By the way, I possess a Firearms License from the state of Georgia and own a 9mm pistol, a shotgun and a rifle.
I pack the pistol whenever I engage in my favorite hobby which is videotaping and photographing trains. For some reason, trains don’t run through the better parts of town. 8)
Since I generally have about $7,500 in equipment, plus my vehicle and my behind at risk, and have encountered a few folks that appeared to be interested in relieving me of some or all of the above, I’ve taken to arming myself on my little jaunts.
A nice old gent who also engaged in my hobby was car-jacked and murdered last year near the Georgia/Alabama state line while taking train pictures. The two low-life rednecks that killed him were later captured using his credit card to buy, what else?, beer and cigarettes.
The methamphetamine epidemic here in the Southeast is insane.
“Can I be honest? “
No. You must say, “Our Strength is Our Diversity” 500 times in atonement. Then give all your money to Obama...he will take care of the immigrants.
I learned years ago that if you want to know what really happened you have to find out for yourself. The press pretty much NEVER gets things right, most reporters are incompetent plus everything gets filtered through a left wing editing process. I dropped my newspaper subscription long ago and I pay little attention to television news other than occasionally watching the local news or the national news on Fox.
Anyone who still trusts the press needs to take one story at random and thoroughly investigate in an attempt not to debunk but to VERIFY the story. The results are usually quite eye opening.
“And he still needed language classes? I don’t get it.”
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We have plenty of forty year olds who were born in this country who still need to learn the language.
“Just heard on ABC Nightly Noise... the shooter used “two automatic pistols”
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Most journalists literally don’t know the difference between a rifle and a shotgun, many of them think duck hunters use rifles, probably less than five percent can conceive of the difference between automatic and semiautomatic. I have even read at least one column by one of these clowns who claimed to know that in fact automatic and semiautomatic are the same thing. If the average cardiac surgeon was no more competent than the average journalist it is doubtful that anyone would ever survive a bypass. If you see an accurate newspaper story it was probably written by someone who is in some other line of work and just happened to write a newspaper story for some reason.
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