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Author Topic: Several Shot At Empire State Building, Authorities Say  (Read 2364 times)
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« on: August 24, 2012, 10:05:20 AM »

Several Shot At Empire State Building, Authorities Say

9:49 a.m. EDT, August 24, 2012
NEW YORK—

Two people have been killed and at least eight others wounded after a shooting Friday in front of the Empire State Building in New York, officials said.

The gunman believed to be responsible in the shooting was shot and killed by police, the NYPD reported.


http://www.courant.com/news/breaking/hc-several-shot-at-empire-state-building-authorities-say-20120824,0,3552053.story
Authorities converged on the building around 9 a.m. after reports of gunfire.
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« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2012, 10:10:47 AM »


Breaking: Several people shot outside Empire State Building
Posted: Aug 24, 2012 9:34 AM EDT Updated: Aug 24, 2012 9:55 AM EDT
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -

New York City officials say at least four people have been shot outside the Empire State Building and that the gunman is dead. A witness says the gunman was firing indiscriminately.
   
City police say at least four people have been wounded in the Friday morning shooting.
   
A fire department spokesman says it received a call about the shooting just after at 9 a.m. Friday and that emergency units were on the scene within minutes.
   
Aliyah Imam tells Fox 5 News that she was standing at a red light when a woman standing next to her fell to the ground. She says the woman was hit in the hip. She says the gunman was "shooting indiscriminately at people."
   
The shooting occurred at 34th Street and Fifth Avenue.


http://www.wfsb.com/story/19367311/breaking-several-people-shot-outside-empire-state-building
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« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2012, 02:36:43 PM »

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-24/several-people-shot-near-empire-state-building-n-y-police-say.html
Man Slain After Shooting Ex-Colleague Near Empire State
August 24, 2012

A man fired from his job near the Empire State Building returned to his former workplace today and shot a co-worker, triggering a firefight with police near one of Manhattan’s most recognizable landmarks. The shooter and a 41- year-old man died, and as many as nine people were injured.

The assailant, Jeffrey Johnson, a 53-year-old Manhattan resident, was fired last year from his job as a women’s accessory designer at Hazan Imports Corp., Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at a news briefing. He returned to the business on West 33rd Street and shot a manager in the head at close range on the street at 9:03 a.m. local time, Kelly said.

Johnson pulled a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol from his bag after two officers on counterterrorism patrol approached him fleeing the scene, Kelly said. A construction worker helped identify the shooter.

“The perpetrator pulled his gun out and tried to shoot at the cops,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters in a news briefing at the scene. “Whether he got off any bullets or not is to be determined. How many he shot earlier, to be determined. We do know that the cops fired back. The tape clearly shows that the guy has the gun out and was trying to kill the police officers.”
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« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2012, 07:59:57 AM »

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/who-was-jeffrey-johnson-facts-about-gunman-in-empire-state-building-shooting/2012/08/24/2d8e894c-ee29-11e1-afd6-f55f84bc0c41_story.html
Who was Jeffrey Johnson? Facts about gunman in Empire State Building shooting
August 24, 2012

Jeffrey Johnson, 58, shot and killed a former colleague Friday morning outside the Empire State Building. Johnson’s brazen attack — he shot his victim, Steven Ercolino, in broad daylight — and the chaos it sparked has various news organizations and individuals trying to find out more about him. So far, this is what we know:

• The attack stemmed from a workplace dispute: Johnson worked for Hazan Import Corp. as a designer of women’s accesories for six years, according to New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. Johnson lost his job about a year ago when the company downsized, according to Kelly. Johnson’s victim was Steven Ercolino, a vice president of sales at Hazan. Citing a police report, NBC New York said that in 2011, while riding in an elevator together, Johnson told Ercolino, “I am going to kill you.”
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« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2012, 01:29:22 PM »

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/25/justice/new-york-empire-state-shooting/index.html
Police: All Empire State shooting victims were wounded by officers
August 25, 2012

New York (CNN) -- All nine people injured in Friday's shooting in front of the Empire State Building were wounded by police gunfire, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters Saturday.

The officers unloaded a total of 16 rounds at a disgruntled former apparel designer, killing him after he shot and killed a co-worker and engaged in a gunbattle with police, authorities have said.

Authorities said an investigation is under way after one officer shot nine rounds and another shot seven. Three victims suffered gunshot wounds, while the remaining six were hit by fragments.

Police identified the gunman as Jeffrey Johnson, 58, who was apparently laid off from his job as a designer of women's accessories at Hazan Import Co. last year.

Johnson, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard in the mid 1970s, had two rounds left in his .45-caliber pistol. It holds eight, Kelly said.

Police identified the slain victim as 41-year-old Steven Ercolino, who had apparently filed a prior complaint against his assailant that claimed he thought Johnson would try to kill him.

Both men filed harassment complaints against each other in April 2011, Kelly added.
 ::snipping2::
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« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2012, 09:46:54 AM »

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP41f90e388d8b4f7799ca4e462996db85.html
NY gunman quiet loner, victim outgoing family man
August 25, 2012

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« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2012, 06:26:29 PM »

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/26/13490305-police-empire-state-shooter-was-losing-his-apartment?lite&google_editors_picks=true
Police: Empire State shooter was losing his apartment
August 26, 2012

NEW YORK -- The man who shot and killed a former co-worker before being killed by police near the Empire State Building was being booted out of his apartment, a law enforcement official says.
 ::snipping2::
A law enforcement official told NBC New York on Sunday that Johnson was subletting the Upper East Side apartment where he lived. The owner wanted to do renovations and asked Johnson to move out.   Johnson had a couple of weeks left until he had to go.  That added pressure may have helped put him over the edge, the source said.

A police source told Reuters that Johnson left his keys with his landlord on Friday to allow renovation of his apartment and apparently intended to never return.

“He left the keys in an envelope for the landlord with no intention of ever coming back,'' said the source.
 ::snipping2::
Johnson had been laid off a year ago from Hazan Imports, across the street from the Empire State Building, where he was locked in a dispute with the victim, police said. Johnson claimed Ercolino had failed to sell enough of his creations and held a grudge, police said.

Johnson and Ercolino filed complaints about each other with police in April 2011, police said.
 ::snipping2::
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« Reply #7 on: August 30, 2012, 07:15:38 PM »

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1208/24/acd.01.html
ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES

Shooting at Empire State Building; Tropical Storm Isaac to Hit Dominican Republic, Haiti

Aired August 24, 2012 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening, everyone .

We begin tonight with the striking new video just in of the Empire State building shooting here in New York. It comes from the New York City police department. We should warn you, it shows a man, shooter, in the last second he's alive. You actually see him being shot by police. But we're showing it to you so you can see why police did what they did.

This is the scene. Surveillance video after the gunman, Jeffrey Johnson, shot a co-worker. There, you see the gunman in the middle of your screen. It's grainy and it's blurry. I know. But again, you see him walking down the street. Briefcase in hand. It appear, he takes a gun out of the briefcase. Police there are in the right-hand corner and then they shoot him and he falls.

This is on Fifth Avenue, right outside of the Empire State building. Johnson being followed by a number of officers, pulled his weapon. You see the crowd scatter. And police open fire killing Johnson.

Now, all of these played out in just a matter of seconds. The shooter, Johnson, is dead. So is the man he shot. Nine others were hit. We're going to have complete coverage of the shooting, of this new video, and what it tells us about the incident coming up in just a few minutes.
 ::snipping2::
We are also learning more now about the shooter who open fire in front of the Empire State building during the morning rush hour. Police say his target was a former co-worker at a nearby store that, that man is dead and so is the gunman. The terrifying scene caught on video. We're going to show you the police surveillance tape just released about ten or 15 minutes ago.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Welcome back to our breaking news.

The shooting outside New York's Empire State building. We just got a surveillance video from the police department. Now, it is graphic. We're just going to show you to just a limited amount of times because we think it could speak volumes about why police shot the gunman dead. And also, about how other people were shot as well.

Jeffrey Johnson is the shooter. You can see him at the top of your screen. There he is with the gun. There' you see the two police officers dividing and then he falls to the ground. He just already killed a former co-worker. He was walking away. He pulled the weapon on the officers following him and bystanders scrambled away. And that's when the gunman killed them - when the police killed him.

Now, as we said, all this happened right outside the Empire State building. It was rush hour. The area was packed with tourists and workers. The video just saw as part of the aftermath. There's other video as well that's too graphic. We're not going to show you. But here's how all of this played out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): This is the aftermath of a gunman opening fire in one of the most crowded streets in America. Police say they fired at this man, identified as 58-year-old Jeffrey Johnson, after he shot at them. At this point in the video, he still appears to be alive.

Just minutes before Johnson, dressed in a business suit and carrying a briefcase, navigated the crowds around the empire state building, found his target and pulled out a .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol.

RAY KELLY, COMMISSIONER, NYPD: At 9:03 this morning in front of 10 west 33rd street a disgruntled former employee of a company at that address shot and killed a former co-worker, striking him three times.

COOPER: Police say Johnson had been laid off as his job as a woman's accessory designer last year. His victim, 41-year-old Steve Ercolino, was a vice president there. Police say Johnson and Ercolino had a long standing dispute over allegations of harassment and both men had filed prior complaints against one another.

A co-worker of Ercolino's was walking right next to him when they both saw Johnson lurking. She said, quote, I saw him pull a gun out from his jacket, and I thought to myself, oh, my God, he's going to shoot him. Steve screamed. Jeff shot him, and I just turned and ran."

KELLY: Jeffrey Johnson then fled with a 45 caliber handgun in a black bag he had under his arm. A construction worker who had followed Johnson from west 33rd street alerted two uniformed police officers.

COOPER: Chaos erupted as bystanders ran for cover and police pursued Johnson.

KELLY: As the two officers approached Johnson, he pulled his 45 caliber semiautomatic pistol from his bag and fired on the officers who returned fire.

COOPER: Police fired 14 rounds, some of which are believed to have hit eight innocent bystanders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I heard the gunshot and we looked towards the left and saw three or four people fall. The whole entire crosswalk emptied and people were running.

COOPER: Johnson went down immediately.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I pulled him over on stomach and cuffed him, kicked the gun away.

COOPER: After one man was killed, eight people wounded and hundreds of people ran for their lives, Jeffrey Johnson died in the shadow of the empire state building.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Joining us now is Lou Palumbo. He is a former police officer. He is now director of elite group limited, a private security firm. He's on the phone.

So is CNN's Poppy Harlow who's been covering this story from the beginning all day today.

Lou, this video which we're seeing really for the first time, and you are seeing also for the first time. It really does - the reason we are kind of showing it, it does kind of show the difficulty police face when you have a shooter on the street with people all around and in the back of the shooter it's a very difficult situation to be in for officers.

LOU PALUMBO, DIRECTOR, ELITE GROUP LIMITED, FORMER OFFICER (via phone): Yes, most definitely. You know unfortunately, this is the type of scenario where we have what is referred to as an active shooter and there is no other option but to engage that individual. Primarily because he's clearly drawn his weapon already. This 45 semiautomatic caliber pistol. And he's discharging it.

Police have no alternative but to engage him. And subsequently, what we've experienced is what we've also referred to as collateral damage. That's where innocent people not completely aware of or necessarily involved in this activity are injured.

COOPER: In a situation like this, how much information did the officers actually have about what this person has already done? I mean, how much access to information do they have?

PALUMBO: Well, you know, you would hope they have plenty of it. The problem is, the information that they receive, according to what was reported, was there was a construction worker who apparently witnessed this individual, Johnson, shoot his former co-worker. They're working off that. The rest of it is just kind of spontaneous. They begin to approach him. At the same time, you're observing him draw a pistol from his bag clearly with his right hand and begin pointing it and discharging it in the direction of the law enforcement agent. So they unfortunately did not necessarily have all the information they needed. Because if they had, they probably would have come out of the car guns drawn. They were kind of piecing this together as they were going along. And fortunately, they responded to this quite appropriately.

COOPER: I think we've shown that video now so I don't want to keep showing it because it is obviously very graphic and disturbing.

Poppy Harlow is joining us on the phone.

Poppy, what do we -- do we know any more about the man who was shot? The victim in this? And also the shooter, about what their relationship was, what the beef was about?

POPPY HARLOW, CNN MONEY.COM CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Yes. We know a lot more about the relationship and about the shooter, 58-year- old Jeffrey Johnson, who up till a year ago, Anderson, worked at this Hazan Imports which makes women's jewelry and apparel.

He was apparently laid off a year ago because of downsizing. And was, quote, "disgruntled," according to the NYPD. He worked with this victim, 41-year-old Ercolino and they had this sort of spat, ongoing spat, about workplace harassment, according to the NYPD. And it frankly led them to both issue legal paperwork against one another. So obviously, you know, there was a lot of tension between the two of them and Johnson was there in front of the workplace which just happened to be right next to the empire state building. And then shot the victim in his torso and then in the head.

What we do know from Rebecca Foxx, the 27-year-old witness that I spoke with early this morning, just about half an hour after this happened. She saw the shooter on the ground, laying on the ground, described him to me as a middle aged Caucasian man, and she said she saw police tried to turn over the suspected shooter, tried to turn him over. And when you do see that amateur video also you showed in your piece, you can see he has shot the shooter and on the ground but he's still very much alive, and his hands moving, and sort of leans over before he's then shot again by police.

So she did witness him on the ground just a few minutes after this occurred. The way she described the scene to me was there was blood all over the sidewalk, coffee cups left and right as it was right next to Starbucks and people running frantically because, frankly, this is one of the busiest commercial intersections in New York. People four million tourists go through every single year.

COOPER: Yes, especially that hour of the morning, 9:00 in the morning.

Poppy, appreciate the reporting. Lou Palumbo as well.

We are going to talk to an eye witness as our breaking news coverage continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
 ::snipping2::
COOPER: Hey, welcome back. Back to our breaking news here.

You've seen the video of the Empire State building shooter drawing his weapon on police and police shooting him dead right on one of the busiest streets in New York n Fifth Avenue. We're not going to show it to you again. We've shown it several times. It just seems gratuitous to show it more.

Some other vide, you saw in the last segment though, the gunman and some of the wounded bystanders was taken by a young man named Alex Nodd (ph) who's visiting New York, terrifying scene to witness. He's a tourist who just happened to be there. I spoke to him earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So, Alex, you heard the shots. You saw the aftermath. Take us through what happened, what you saw. ALEX NODD (PH), WITNESS: I'd just come down from the Empire State building. And just across the street, just sorting out some tour details, and saw a whole load of people running, and they're pointing. There was a guy wearing a high Vis jacket pointing out another guy in a suit. And he ran towards the Empire State building entrance.

There's two police on duty there, outside the building. And pretty much just as they'd gone to the entrance, a bus had passed, so the shots were fired. There was about probably, I don't know, it was quite rapid fire. So, I'm guessing around about eight to 10 shots fired.

And I saw people running and screaming. And a few of them fell down in the streets. And I filmed the aftermath about 30 seconds up. I was right across the street. And yes, just pretty horrific scenes. People running away and ducking. And there was people lie on the floor. Other people trying to help. People were taking cover. Then I'd moved around into a more prime location to film. And zoomed in on the footage of police standing over the gunman. And seem that right close also to the body who had been shot. He was still moving at that point but, I think he was gone - he died at the scene. He was --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So the gunman was still moving initially when you saw him on the ground?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that's right. There was two police, maybe three by then, running over. So there was two police standing over, over him, guns pointed directly at the guy on the floor, and he was -- he was rolling around. But -- yes, I -- I was -- then I zoomed around to see if anyone else was hurt and I could see other bodies on the floor. Like people who had been hit further up the street, two or three on my camera.

As we walked down, the police cleared the scene. There were another couple of people on the left side. So, yes, that's what I saw.

COOPER: And, Alex, you're just here as a tourist. How do you feel about all this? I mean, how are you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, you know, I heard one person say -- this happens globally, but we only get shook up when it happens locally. But when you're right in front of something that happens that horrific, it's a bit nerve-racking, yes, a bit shaken, but uninjured. And I really feel for those who have been wounded or families who have been deeply affected by this.

COOPER: Well, I'm glad you were unscathed. I appreciate you talking to us tonight. Alex, thank you so much.


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.

COOPER: Alex who just happened to be there right when right after it all happened.  ::snipping2::
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« Reply #8 on: August 30, 2012, 07:20:53 PM »

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1208/24/pmt.01.html
PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT

Empire State Building Shooting
; Armstrong: Banned for Life; Interview with Ron Johnson, CEO of JC Penney; Interview with Dax Shepherd, Kristen Bell

Aired August 24, 2012 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


PIERS MORGAN, HOST: Good evening.

We start with breaking news, tonight, looking live at one of New York's most iconic landmarks, the Empire State Building, the scene of a deadly shooting in this morning's rush hour. A big story, the NYPD has released extraordinary surveillance video tonight, at the moment the gunman was shot.

I must warn you, it's very graphic. It might be disturbing to some viewers. But we're showing it to you because it clearly indicates the shooting suspect, Jeffrey Johnson, turning towards police officers and apparently pointing a gun at them. He is shot by the officers and falls to the ground. He died at the scene.

The mayhem began when Johnson allegedly shot and killed a co- worker, Steven Ercolino, outside the Empire State Building, eight people were wounded, several of whom may have been inadvertently hit in a crossfire over ricocheting bullets, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Joining me now exclusively, a man who was wounded in today's shooting, Robert Asika. He sells tickets to the Empire State Building for the tour and was on his way to work. Also, Rebecca Fox, an eyewitness.

Welcome to you both.

Very harrowing day. I know you've been through an extraordinary experience there.

Let me start with you, Robert. You were shot in the arm. Did you know what on earth was going on? You were off to your normal work at the Empire State Building. What happened?

ROBERT ASIKA, WOUNDED IN EMPIRE STATE SHOOTING: You know, actually, (INAUDIBLE) this morning, because when I woke up this morning, for some reason, something was telling me not to go to work, like something told me to call the company and tell them I couldn't come in. Usually when something bad is about to happen, I always have this feeling. You know, so I'm like well, I was off the day before. It was only eight hours anyway.

So, I got up. I got to the place. I clocked in. So the bus came and picked us up.

As soon as the bus dropped us like 15 minutes later you see people running. So, I'm saying to myself, "Why is everybody running?" And I'm not the type to follow crowds. I want to know the reason they were running.

So I turned around. So when I turned around, I saw this guy about 5'4", he suited up with a briefcase, he was coming towards my direction. I seen the cops come and follow him. I guess the cops were talking to him. Then he stopped. I guess he dropped the briefcase he was holding. And he took out the gun and he fired to one of the police officers.

MORGAN: You think he did fire? Because it hasn't been confirmed yet.

ASIKA: No, I seen him pull out the gun and I heard just one shot. After that, all you just kept hearing were shots. So, one of the police officers missed the target and hit me in the arm. That's when I fell, I was in pain and I was in shock.

MORGAN: We have got an image of you actually lying there, really -- I mean, what a thing to happen to you on your way to work. Ghastly experience.

Rebecca, you were watching all this. Obviously, you're a designer, a dancer in the city. The last thing you expected to see in your way to work.

REBECCA: What did you see?

REBECCA FOX, WITNESS: I was coming up from the Green Line. Normally I take the (INAUDIBLE) in the morning which would have put me at the corner where the shooting actually happened. I was getting my coffee. On 34th and Fifth and walk towards Fifth Avenue.

And I saw a bunch of people running. I thought there was actually a celebrity sighting. I never would have expected there would be a shooting. I had headphones so I couldn't hear anything. I took my headphones out. I talked to somebody and they said there was a shooting. So, I walked towards 34th and Fifth and I actually work across the street from the Empire State Building.

I saw a woman sitting on the ground, leaning up against the Empire State Building. And she had been shot in the foot. And then I looked halfway down the block, right where you enter the Empire State Building.

The supposed -- the gunman had been shot. I saw cops surrounding him. And they had turned him over, tried to flip him over. I saw his head move slightly up and then back down. So I thought he was still alive. But it turned out he had died later on.

Someone had told me he was actually in pursuit of another man by the Starbucks on 33rd going towards Sixth Avenue. I walked towards there and I saw coffee cups strewn over the ground where people had probably run for their lives. I smelled a lot of gasoline because I think one of the bullets hit a car in the area and I saw the guy shot on the ground.

MORGAN: Is it likely -- right. I mean, the general feeling seems to be now that probably all the injuries outside of the man who was himself killed were probably sustained from police fire. They were ricocheting bullets.

Would you think that's probably right?

ASIKA: Yes. I'm positive. Because, like, one of my co-workers that was hit, it was, like, say, about, four feet away from me, he was trying to come from my direction. So all of a sudden, he just dropped, like, to the ground, like, you could tell the bullet was coming from the police officer, because the way the guy was facing and the cops was actually facing us. So --

MORGAN: But if the police hadn't, of course, shot at him, he may well have started shooting anyway.

ASIKA: I don't think so because when he was coming, he was just holding the briefcase. The only reason why -- like for me, I felt like the reason he started shooting I guess is cause the cops was following him and he knew he was going to get caught.

MORGAN: He had just allegedly committed a murder, which he knew.

ASIKA: Right.

MORGAN: That was what they knew.

I'm going to just stay here for a moment. I'm going to bring in now Paul Ercolino. He's the brother of the man that the gunman killed. He joins me exclusively on the phone.

Mr. Ercolino, first of all, let me just express to you my sincerest and deepest sympathy on the loss of your brother. It's an awful thing you've had to endure for you and your family today. Tell me how you heard the news.

PAUL ERCOLINO, BROTHER WAS KILELD BY EMPIRE STATE GUNMAN (via telephone): Well, Piers, it was -- it started off as a beautiful morning. I'm taking my son up to college to put him into his dorm. And I got the phone call from my father that my brother had been shot outside -- by his offices. I didn't know right away if he was alive or if he had been killed and found out -- he had died from the gunshot wounds.

MORGAN: Did you or any of your family have any idea about the relationship between the man that killed your brother and your brother? Because they worked in the same department store. They had had some kind of falling out. And the shooter had -- he'd been laid off. Had been going back apparently to pick up various paychecks and so on.

And each time he'd gone back, the reports are saying there would be some kind of altercation with your brother. And then obviously it led to this appalling shooting. Did anybody at any stage -- did your brother ever say he had a problem with this guy?

ERCOLINO: No, my brother is -- you know, he's such a loving uncle to his nieces and nephews. When we're together in the family, we don't -- we keep the business things to ourselves. We don't talk about what's going on with our business and stuff. If something had happened, wasn't (INAUDIBLE) anybody in my family was --

MORGAN: What's your feeling today? I mean, There's been so many of these appalling gun atrocities in recent weeks. This is obviously a very different example. But, still, this man has used a firearm which we believe he was owning illegally in the city.

We think he bought it legally but he may not have had a permit to use it now. But he used this gun to allegedly murder your brother.

What do you feel about guns in America right now?

ERCOLINO: You know, I don't think this is a referendum on guns in America. This is (INAUDIBLE) This is something that happened that could have been a baseball bat. It could have been a knife. It could have been -- you never know when something like this happens.

I don't think it's a referendum on guns in America. Nothing could bring my brother back and I don't look at it -- I believe you have the right to carry a handgun legally if you have -- if he wasn't carrying it legally, obviously that's against the -- you know.

But nothing's going to bring my brother back.

MORGAN: Well, can only, again, express my deepest sympathies over what has happened to Steven today. It's just a terrible thing. I extend it to you and your family and all your friends.

It's not something that should be happening. Thank you for joining me.

ERCOLINO: No, it's not something that should happen to a loving person like that and he's going to be so missed by everybody. He was the light of so many lives.

MORGAN: I'm sure. That's what I'm hearing from a lot of his friends and family members. Paul, thank you for joining. I do appreciate you're taking the time on such a difficult day for you.

ERCOLINO: Thank you.

MORGAN: What does it take to keep us to be safe from this kind of gun violence? Can you do anything about it? Joining me now on the phone is a man who knows a lot about that, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Rudy, welcome.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NYC MAYOR (via telephone): How are you, Piers?

MORGAN: Fine. Just I think there's a very valid point there made by Paul Ercolino, the brother of the tragic victim Steven, saying it's not a time to debate referendum on guns. I totally accept that.

There also has been overnight in Chicago, 19 different shootings. Apparently, 13 in half an hour. And following what happened in Aurora, and with the Sikh temple, and so on and so on, the issue of guns is now becoming ever more prevalent --

GUILIANI: Right.

MORGAN: -- through a number of different incidents. What do you think should be done if anything? I mean, maybe not as a direct result of this which appears to be a very disaffected man taking some kind of awful revenge on a guy who used to employ him. But what do you think generally should be done now?

Mayor Bloomberg's been very vociferous about demanding new types of gun control and so on. Clearly, in Chicago they have pretty tough gun control laws, but they're still getting these Wild West nights.

What do you think should happen?

GIULIANI: Well, you know, I think these -- the situations are not the right situations to pick to debate gun control, either this one or the one that took place a couple weeks ago. Or the situation in Norway a year ago where they have very strict gun control. They have no guns, 67 people were killed by a maniac.

When you have this kind of irrational killing, gun control, even the elimination guns, is not going to prevent a killing like this. We don't know why this man killed. I'm willing to assume it was an irrational reason, a deep-seated hatred that triggered something irrational in his mind.

And this isn't the kind of case that's going to be prevented by gun control. And what happens sometimes when people seize on gun control as the answer to this is they're trying to escape a deeper more painful question which is human behavior. Human beings held responsible for their misdeeds, for the crimes they commit.

Now, when I was mayor, when I started as mayor of New York City, New York City was averaging 1,900, 2,000 murders a year. When I left, it was down to 600. Now it's down to 500.

Chicago had the same gun control laws we had. And Chicago had per capita, all during that period to today, three times more murders than we had. And I thought it was our sensible policing. The kind of policing we did, the Comstat system, the broken windows theory. I think that's what really reduced the violence in New York City, which focused on human behavior.

We did try to take guns away from people who didn't have them legally. And here's the man that apparently had a gun illegally. He shouldn't have a gun. MORGAN: Well, it's a desperately sad story. Again, my sympathies to him and his family and to all the victims. Thank you to you, too, for coming in.
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« Reply #9 on: August 30, 2012, 07:44:01 PM »

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1208/24/ijvm.01.html
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL

Missing Teen Girl Found Alive; Man Shoots Former Co-Worker in Midtown Manhattan

Aired August 24, 2012 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


UNIDENTIFIED MALE: JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL starts right now.
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BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ten people have been shot in front of the Empire State Building.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A man ran after another man and pulled a gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s no secret that the Empire State Building from time to time has been identified to our intelligence community as a potential target.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can see how congested this area is right in midtown Manhattan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People began to scream. The crowds dispersed. And an elevator man from inside the Empire State Building came rushing out and actually pursued the guy with the gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A young woman, an innocent bystander, shot and killed, as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police do tell us the shooter is dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: A gun battle erupts in the dead center of New York City.

We have to warn you: what you`re about to see are graphic and frightening images of this crime as it happened, as it went down.

Look at this stunning new amateur video. This is chaos as violence broke out after a man opens fire on a former co-worker in the heart of Manhattan. That may have been the gunman right there on the ground.

A heroic construction worker chased down the suspect while calling 911. As the gunman flees, police converged on the scene. A firefight breaks out between the officers and the shooter. Terrified witnesses could not believe what they were seeing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of a sudden there was just cops running down, and people are taping off scenes. It was just kind of like a scene out of "CSI," honestly, and -- but it was real. And it wasn`t that long ago that 9/11 happened so I`m just kind of like, is this really happening?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELEZ-MITCHELL: The deadly pursuit came to its bloody conclusion when two officers cornered the gunman right outside the famous Empire State Building. They shot him three times just 20 feet from where tourists were lining up to visit the skyscraper`s famous observatory.

Straight out to CNN correspondent Maggie Lake on the ground, on the scene in midtown Manhattan.

Maggie, tell us what you`re learning. Was this a targeted attack against a specific individual that kind of exploded into random violence?

MAGGIE LAKE, REPORTER: It does seem like it was very specific, Jane.

What police have been telling us all throughout the day is 58-year-old Jeffrey Johnson went to his place of former employment. He had been working at Hazan. It was a ladies` accessory maker. A designer there. He worked there for six years. He was laid off about a year ago.

Today he turned up armed with a .45 caliber weapon and shot a co- worker that he had had problems with. The two of them had exchanged allegations of harassment before, so he seemed to come with the intent of shooting that person.

Witnesses we spoke to said after that, he very strangely sort of turned calmly and proceeded to walk down the street with his briefcase and tried to blend in with the crowd. Of course, that`s not possible, as you mentioned. Bystanders saw him. They alerted police, who took him down. But this is a man dressed in a suit who looked like anyone else who would have been commuting on that day, which is why those bystanders were so shocked.

VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, and we are seeing this video that, again, everybody is a potential journalist with a camera these days. And so we`re -- we`ve been getting some of this extraordinary footage of, actually as it went down, these poor -- that`s a police officer pointing a gun at someone. I will hesitate to say what exactly is happening here, except complete and utter chaos, terror.

And it`s so -- it`s so saddening. As a native New Yorker, it breaks my heart. Thank you so much, Maggie Lake.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)



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  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
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