(Newser)
–
Some details are starting to clarify about this morning's shooting spree near the Empire State Building that left two dead and nine injured:
- The shooter has been identified as Jeffrey Johnson, 58, a clothing designer who got laid off about a year ago from apparel company Hazan Imports in the city.
- Johnson reportedly returned to the workplace with a .45-caliber handgun and fatally shot a 41-year-old manager on the front sidewalk, on West 33rd Street near the Empire State Building.
- Witnesses say the shooter then tucked away his gun and walked away, and police credit a construction worker with pointing him out to two nearby officers on foot patrol. A chaotic gunfight ensured, with nine bystanders injured. All are expected to survive. Johnson himself was killed.
- Some of those wounded in the street may have been struck by police bullets.
- "Police confronted him and asked him to stop," says one witness. "Right in front of Fifth Avenue, he opened his briefcase and pulled out a gun and started shooting."
More details at the
AP, the
New York Times, the
Daily News, and
DNA Info.
