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.
New York Governor David Paterson, speaking in a live television broadcast, said the shooter "killed 12 or 13 people. This is a horrible situation." The gunman, who also took between 20 and 40 hostages at the civic center in the sleepy city of Binghamton, later killed himself, CNN reported, citing unnamed sources.
The tragedy began mid-morning when the gunman entered the American Civic Association building in Binghamton, 135 miles (217 kilometers) northwest of New York city. After opening fire the gunman holed himself up with hostages in the center, where help is given to new immigrants and would-be US citizens. Heavily armed police, backed by commandos and FBI agents, swarmed into the area and surrounded the building.
Four people are in hospitals, all in critical condition with gunshot wounds. Televised images showed people taken on stretchers from the center, which helps immigrants and refugees with citizenship and resettlement issues. Police received their first distress call at 10:31 a.m., Zikuski said, and responded within two minutes.
Thirty-seven people in all made it out of the building, including 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.
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."