New York: New York’s police chief has confirmed that all nine people who got wounded in the Empire State Building shooting on Friday were the victims of police fire.
Commissioner Ray Kelly said police opened fire on a gunman who has just shot dead his former work colleague, but some bystanders were also injured by bullets or fragments of bullets striking objects.
“It appears that all nine of the victims were struck either by fragments or by bullets fired by police,” he said.
The motive of the shooter, t-shirt designer Jeffrey Johnson, to kill Steve Ercolino, vice-president of a clothing firm, is still under investigation, BBC reported.
According to police, Johnson hid behind a car and killed Mr Ercolino with five shots as he arrived for work in Manhattan early in the morning.
Video released by police shows the moment when officers challenge Johnson and open fire as he appears to draw a gun in a busy street.
“We have on tape the perpetrator pulled his gun out and tried to shoot at the cops,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said earlier.
“Whether he got off any bullets or not [is] to be determined.”
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