Shooting and hostage situation in New York State
- 00:00:40
- ITN
Shooting and hostage situation in New York State
A gunman has opened fire inside a building in upstate New York, killing up to 13 people and wounding more than two dozen. At around 10.30am local time, a man armed with a high-powered rifle entered the American Civic Association in Binghamton taking around 40 people hostage. Some people are said to have escaped to the basement of the centre - which provides services to immigrants - while more than a dozen hid in a closet. Around 20 people were later released by the gunman and left the building with their hands raised above their heads while others were removed on stretchers. One officer on the scene said the situation was "very very very bad". The lone gunman, said to be an Asian man in his 20s, is said to have entered the building through the front door having barricaded the rear entrance with his car. According to reports, he may have later taken his own life. At one point two men were led by officers from the building in plastic wrist restraints. They may have been caught up in the incident but matched the shooter's description. The town of around 45,000 people is located about 150 miles northwest of New York City. The American Civic Association building is used to teach English and provide other services to recent immigrants to the US who are preparing for citizenship. Last month, a man killed ten people, many of them family members, in a shooting rampage in Alabama. On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech, a university in Blacksburg, Virginia, became the site of the deadliest shooting rampage in modern US history when a student gunman killed 32 people and himself.
ITN | April 3, 2009
