Wow...another shooting- 14 killed in N.Y rampage

[69bronzeT5]

What's with all the shootings lately. This is just sad. When will the damn madness end....



BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - A gunman barricaded the back door of a community center with his car and then opened fire on a room full of immigrants taking a citizenship class Friday, killing 13 people before apparently committing suicide, officials said.

Investigators said they had yet to establish a motive for the massacre, which was at least the fifth deadly mass shooting in the U.S. in the past month alone.

The attack came just after 10 a.m. at the American Civic Association, an organization that helps immigrants settle in this country. Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said the gunman parked his car against the back door, "making sure nobody could escape," then stormed through the front, shooting two receptionists, apparently without a word.

The killer then entered a room just off the reception area and fired on a citizenship class.

"The people were trying to better themselves, trying to become citizens," the police chief said.

One receptionist was killed, while the other, who was shot in the abdomen, pretended to be dead, then crawled under a desk and called 911, he said. Police said they arrived within two minutes. The rest of those killed were shot in the classroom. Four people were critically wounded.

The man believed to have carried out the attack was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an office, a satchel containing ammunition slung around his neck, authorities said. Police found two handguns — a 9 mm and a .45-caliber — as well as a hunting knife, authorities said.

Thirty-seven people in all were rescued from the building, included 26 who hid in the boiler room in the basement, cowering there for three hours while police methodically searched the building and tried to determine whether the gunman was still alive and whether he was holding any hostages, Zikuski said.

Those in the basement stayed in contact with police by cell phone, switching from one phone to another when their batteries ran out, Zikuski said. Others hid in closets and under desks.

At one point, police led a number of men out of the building in plastic handcuffs while they tried to sort out the victims from the killer or killers.

Most of the people brought out couldn't speak English, the chief said.

Alex Galkin, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, said he was taking English classes when he heard a shot and quickly went to the basement with about 20 other people.

"It was just panic," Galkin said.

Zhanar Tokhtabayeva, a 30-year-old from Kazakhstan, said she was in an English class when she heard a shot and her teacher screamed for everyone to go to the storage room.

"I heard the shots, every shot. I heard no screams, just silence, shooting," she said. "I heard shooting, very long time, and I was thinking, when will this stop? I was thinking that my life was finished."

Gov. David Paterson said the massacre was probably "the worst tragedy and senseless crime in the history of this city." Noting mass killings in Alabama and Oakland, Calif., last month, he said: "When are we going to be able to curb the kind of violence that is so fraught and so rapid that we can't even keep track of the incidents?"

The community center was holding class "for those who want to become citizens of the United States of America, who wanted to be part of the American Dream, and so tragically may have had that hope thwarted today," the governor said. "But 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."

The suspected gunman carried ID with the name of 42-year-old Jiverly Voong of nearby Johnson City, N.Y., but that was believed to be an alias, said a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity.


The police chief would not confirm the name of the dead man with the ammunition satchel, saying authorities were still trying to establish with certainty that he was the gunman.

"We have no idea what the motive is," Zikuski said. He said the suspected gunman "was no stranger" to the community center, and may have gone there to take a class.

A woman who answered the phone at a listing for Henry D. Voong said she was Jiverly Voong's sister but would not give her name. She said her brother had been in the country for 28 years and had citizenship.

"The police just called me and said he got shot," she said. Asked if she was aware that he might have been involved in the shooting, she said: "How? He didn't have a gun. I think somebody involved, not him. I think he got shot by somebody else."

Friday evening, police searched Voong's house and carried out three computer hard drives, a brown canvas rifle case, a briefcase, a small suitcase and several paper bags.

[Manfred318]

Yea I heard about that on the news this afternoon. 
People are just too fu#%in' crazy these days

[Todd Wilson]

It will all be ok soon. President Yobama will ban your guns and take them!  Then this senseless killing will be stopped once and for all!


Todd

[mauve66]

It will all be ok soon. President Yobama will ban your guns and take them!  Then this senseless killing will be stopped once and for all!


Todd

yeah, keep believing that criminals will NEVER get a gun if they are illlegal to have

[skip68]

Only the honest people will turn in guns.  Even then, I bet tons of good people would still keep a gun for protection. 

[TeeWJay426]

Damn, that's a little too close to home... I lived in the Binghamton area for 4 years; the missus is from Endicott. I know the place well.. not what you'd expect in that area.

[General_01]

It will all be ok soon. President Yobama will ban your guns and take them!  Then this senseless killing will be stopped once and for all!


Todd

yeah, keep believing that criminals will NEVER get a gun if they are illlegal to have

Ummm......I am pretty sure Todd was being sarcastic.

[68coronetGLwannabe]

It will all be ok soon. President Yobama will ban your guns and take them!  Then this senseless killing will be stopped once and for all!


Todd

yeah, keep believing that criminals will NEVER get a gun if they are illlegal to have

It seems many people are hanging on by a thin thread these days. One of the reasons I have a CCW permit.

[bigcountry]

It will all be ok soon. President Yobama will ban your guns and take them!  Then this senseless killing will be stopped once and for all!


Todd

yeah, keep believing that criminals will NEVER get a gun if they are illlegal to have

It seems many people are hanging on by a thin thread these days. One of the reasons I have a CCW permit.

I would go as far to say if someone in that office would have had a CCW and had been armed, there would have been a lot less victims, maybe one or two tops.

[Todd Wilson]

It will all be ok soon. President Yobama will ban your guns and take them!  Then this senseless killing will be stopped once and for all!


Todd

yeah, keep believing that criminals will NEVER get a gun if they are illlegal to have

It seems many people are hanging on by a thin thread these days. One of the reasons I have a CCW permit.

I would go as far to say if someone in that office would have had a CCW and had been armed, there would have been a lot less victims, maybe one or two tops.

Yeah but they probably had a no guns red circle slash sign on the door. They want to keep guns out becuase after all guns kill people and if theres no guns in there people dont get killed!


Todd

[TheGhost]

It will all be ok soon. President Yobama will ban your guns and take them!  Then this senseless killing will be stopped once and for all!


Todd

yeah, keep believing that criminals will NEVER get a gun if they are illlegal to have

Ummm......I am pretty sure Todd was being sarcastic.

Todd being sarcastic?  Never!

[mikesbbody]

These shooting's happen so often people just dont take that much notice anymore  I think from memory, there were 2 before this one that were not mentioned here I thought about starting a thread then decided not too.

[bull]

Guns kill people!
McDonald's makes people overeat!
Pencils misspell words!
Accelerator pedals cause auto accidents!
Spoons make Rosie O'Donnel fat!

[68coronetGLwannabe]

Guns kill people!
McDonald's makes people overeat!
Pencils misspell words!
Accelerator pedals cause auto accidents!
Spoons make Rosie O'Donnel fat!

Forgot one

Ted Kennedys car drowns people!

[bull]

Guns kill people!
McDonald's makes people overeat!
Pencils misspell words!
Accelerator pedals cause auto accidents!
Spoons make Rosie O'Donnel fat!

Forgot one

Ted Kennedys car drowns people!

That's the one I couldn't remember. Thanks.

[Todd Wilson]

Guns kill people!
McDonald's makes people overeat!
Pencils misspell words!
Accelerator pedals cause auto accidents!
Spoons make Rosie O'Donnel fat!

Forgot one

Ted Kennedys car drowns people!

That's the one I couldn't remember. Thanks.

Pabst Blue Ribbon makes me drunk!   


Todd

[NHCharger]

It will all be ok soon. President Yobama will ban your guns and take them!  Then this senseless killing will be stopped once and for all!


Todd

Three cops were killed today in PA by a man that was convinced Obama is going to take all our guns. If this keeps up I wouldn't be surprised if congress passed a law forcing all law abiding gun owners to turn in their guns, so only criminals will have guns.
I just read that Obama is refusing to accept any repayment from the TARP bailouts from the banks. This way he maintains control over the banks.
Socialism is here boys, they're already taking over the banks, next is our guns, soon they''ll be hitting us with a smog tax for our cars, unless they make us scrap them instead.

[Forza]

I could care less if they pass a law saying no more guns, it's not going to keep me from keeping mine. I carry mine everywhere I go because of people like this. It's saved my ass more times then I'd like to admit just in the past couple of years.

[dkn1997]

I could care less if they pass a law saying no more guns, it's not going to keep me from keeping mine. I carry mine everywhere I go because of people like this. It's saved my ass more times then I'd like to admit just in the past couple of years.

That's the amazing thing about laws, rules, and regs that the gov't will never understand. You can't enforce anything unless most of the general public believes it to be good.  look at the 55mph speed limit.. unenforceable because the general public has decided that 55 is too slow, so we all go 65 in a 55 and we get left alone...otherwise the cops would have to ticket every single driver on the road except for the ones who drive in front of me...they like to do 45 in a 55 but that's another story.

on this shooting.  so sad.  I went to college about 40 miles north of Binghamton and I had a girl at the state college at Binghamton so I spent a lot of time in the area.  For those not from around here, Even though it's NY, it's country up there.  about as country as the North east gets.   Good people up that way and it's a shame that the violence has found it's way up to this little city.

[mauve66]

Ummm......I am pretty sure Todd was being sarcastic.

i figured that but it made me feel better to slap the back of his head INSTEAD of shooting him although i would like to discuss it in a dark alley with some of those politicians.......

Guns kill people!
McDonald's makes people overeat!
Pencils misspell words!
Accelerator pedals cause auto accidents!
Spoons make Rosie O'Donnel fat!

stickers add horsepower

[bull]

Now this is really screwed up: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30049132/

Maybe we should just start a senseless killing thread where we can put all these links.

[Shakey]

I could care less if they pass a law saying no more guns, it's not going to keep me from keeping mine. I carry mine everywhere I go because of people like this. It's saved my ass more times then I'd like to admit just in the past couple of years.

It's saved my ass more times then I'd like to admit just in the past couple of years.

Tell us more!