13 killed in New York Immigrant center

[Mr.Burns]

ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - A gunman killed 12 or 13 people in an immigration services center in Binghamton, New York, on Friday, Governor David Paterson said.
The gunman then killed himself, ABC News reported.
ABC News, citing federal and state authorities, said 26 people were also wounded in the incident at Binghamton, about 150 miles northwest of New York City.
"An individual went into an American civic services center .... and has killed 12 or 13 people," Paterson said. There was no immediate word on a motive for the shooting.
The area was surrounded by police with rifles, some carrying shields. Some local media reports said the suspected shooter was Asian and that authorities requested a Vietnamese translator to speak with him.
As many as 41 people were inside the building when a man entered and started shooting, local television WBNG said, citing police scanners. It said some fled to a basement and more than a dozen were hiding in a closet, adding that emergency dispatchers had been in contact with people inside.
Four people were removed from the American Civic Association building on stretchers and taken to hospitals, the Press & Sun-Bulletin newspaper reported on its website.
Others came out on foot.
"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 and they took them to ambulances and took them away," a witness told WNBF radio.
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.


Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5324JP20090403)

[peeves]

OM gosh that's so sad and terrible the gunman then killed himself? He needed to go to a psychiatric ward.

[Joely-Moley]

whoa, that's horrible. The last I heard about there being hostages and four dead.

Just tragic. :(

I really hate when the gunmen kill themselves. Seems like such an easy way out for what they have done.

[Phys]

ALBANY, New York (Reuters) - A gunman killed 12 or 13 people in an immigration services center in Binghamton, New York, on Friday, Governor David Paterson said.
The gunman then killed himself, ABC News reported.
ABC News, citing federal and state authorities, said 26 people were also wounded in the incident at Binghamton, about 150 miles northwest of New York City.
"An individual went into an American civic services center .... and has killed 12 or 13 people," Paterson said. There was no immediate word on a motive for the shooting.
The area was surrounded by police with rifles, some carrying shields. Some local media reports said the suspected shooter was Asian and that authorities requested a Vietnamese translator to speak with him.
As many as 41 people were inside the building when a man entered and started shooting, local television WBNG said, citing police scanners. It said some fled to a basement and more than a dozen were hiding in a closet, adding that emergency dispatchers had been in contact with people inside.
Four people were removed from the American Civic Association building on stretchers and taken to hospitals, the Press & Sun-Bulletin newspaper reported on its website.
Others came out on foot.
"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 and they took them to ambulances and took them away," a witness told WNBF radio.
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.


Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5324JP20090403)

Not another shooting :( I feel so sorry for the familys it affects. :(

[Rai]

More completely pointless loss of lives. No doubt the gunman had his own obscure reasoning behind it, but whatever his problems, he had no right to take innocent lives.

I feel for the families left to mourn their loved ones.

[LaraRules81]

I can't belive there are such cruel people in the world. Honestly its ridiculous.

[Love2Raid]

whoa, that's horrible. The last I heard about there being hostages and four dead.

Just tragic. :(

I really hate when the gunmen kill themselves. Seems like such an easy way out for what they have done.

Yeah, if only they would have killed themselves first........

Horrible, horrible news. An act of a desperate maniac. :(

[Joely-Moley]

Yeah, if only they would have killed themselves first........


I know. All those people killed didn't have a choice when their life was ended. Then this guy murders them all then has the choice to take his own life. It's so horrible. :(

[da tomb raider!]

Terrible. Still can't believe someone would do something like this.

[Drone]

shame, people can't be safe.

[CerebralAssassin]

OM gosh that's so sad and terrible the gunman then killed himself? He needed to go to a psychiatric ward.

word.

sometimes the line between retaining one's sanity and totally snapping is a very thin one.if help isn't sought out then things like this are gonna keep happening over and over again...

[digitizedboy]

Damn! that's depressing. :(

[wantafanta]

This was not a tragedy and it is no longer depressing. It's now a common experience and part of the American way of life. A tragedy is something that could not have been avoided. This could have. What do you expect in a country where it's illegal to board a plane with a pocket knife, but it's OK to drive to work with a machine gun on your back seat? The no. 1 source of assault weapons for the vicious Mexican drug wars is the USA. The mayhem going on down there makes these incidents look like a church picnic.
I'll tell you something. This guy could have killed 200 people and nothing would change. Because this country is populated by knuckleheads who love their guns more than their spouses.

When I was a kid, some guy climbed a tower at a Texas university and shot 37 people. There was a guy who killed 22 customers in a California McDonald's with an M-16. And a guy in Texas killed 23 at a Luby's diner. That was 20 years ago. And more recently, there was the freeway sniper who killed ten in Pennsylvania. And don't forget those kids in Colorado who were massacred in school by Dylan Kleibold and his friend. And guess what we do about it? Nothing. So believe me, this will never change.

[knightgames]

Sorry about the 'aside comment' wannafanta, but did you know two of the daughters of the Freeway Sniper performed in the choir at Obama's innauguration.



I'm a firm believer in the 2nd ammendment when it comes to hand guns and hunting rifles. That said, I see absolutely no reason to have assault weapons/ automatics whether semi or fully auto/ and machine guns availible to the common citizen. One can spout as much as they want in regards to uprising against a corrupt government. We've seen the results in Waco and in Colorado. Your cause is hopeless.

We've learned the Brady Bill is impotent at best, and with more and more folks becoming disenfranchised because of the economic crunch, expect more blood shed.

So instead of preparing for a war that one has no hope of winning, look deep in the mirror and ask - "What if it was YOUR child?"

A man in western Massachusetts had his 8 yr old child accidently shoot himself with an UZI last fall. He was ay a gun show and without proper supervision shot off a round. The gun recoiled shooting him. I bet the father asks that every day now?

Why should officers be outgunned like in LA about 10 years ago by two bank robbers who came loaded with body armour and and arnenal of weapons?

Why should I have to send my kids to school worried about some nutter with a cache of bullits and AK 47s?

Just so YOU can target practice, and play GI Joe? GROW UP!

[_Tomb_Raider]

really...where dose this world go.....:(