A disgruntled employee of a women's accessories business gunned down a former co-worker and then died in a hail of police bullets Friday morning outside the Empire State Building, officials said.
Eight bystanders were grazed or shot -- all of them, apparently, by police bullets, sources said.
The suspected gunman, Jeffrey Johnson, 58, who was laid off a year ago, approached a former co-worker on the street and shot him three times, killing him, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
Johnson's victim was not officially identified, but a law enforcement official told NBC News he was Steven Ercolino, a vice president at Hazan Import, where Johnson had worked until last year.
A construction worker who witnessed the incident followed Johnson as he walked away, Kelly said. The construction worker alerted police, who confronted Johnson. He turned his .45-caliber pistol on the officers, and was killed as they opened fire. Police fired at least 14 times, Kelly said.
More coverage at NBCNewYork.com
Kelly said that some of those injured in the incident may have been hit by police bullets, adding that the injured are expected to survive.
Louis Lanzano / AP
A disgruntled ex-employee opened fire Friday morning and shot 10 people, killing one. The gunman was then shot and killed at the scene.
Kelly said Johnson was a designer of women's accessories at Hazan Imports until he was laid-off in a downsizing. He said Johnson and his coworker had each filed police reports against each other in the past year.
Through photos and tweets, witnesses show chaos outside Empire State Building
Witnesses described a chaotic scene Friday morning on streets crowded with tourists and commuters alike.
Chris Watkins told the Wall Street Journal he saw a man running through the crowd carrying a handgun and wearing a backpack. "He was shooting toward the crowd, not toward anyone in particular," Watkins said, adding that he ran into a nearby drug store when he heard shots. He said he later saw four people lying in the intersection of 34th St. and Fifth Ave.
"I heard pop, pop, pop, pop, and I ran back into my offices," Gloria Walker, another witness, told NBC News. "I ran, I ran, I ran."
Please check back for more on this breaking news story. For minute-by-minute updates, visit breakingnews.com.
Gloria Walker describes witnessing the shooting at the Empire State Building to WNBC: "It was pandemonium."
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