Posted on 04/03/2009 3:06:49 PM PDT by neverdem
(Binghamton, N.Y. / ABC News) -- As many as 13 people have been shot dead and wounded dozens in a shooting rampage inside an upstate New York civic association building that caters to immigrants, according to federal and state authorities.
The gunman, Jiverly Voong, allegedly held dozens of people hostage for several hours before shooting himself to death, police said.
According to multiple state law enforcement officials, the gunman entered the one-story American Civic Association in downtown Binghamton about 10 a.m. today and began his shooting spree.
A senior law enforcement official told ABC News that 13 people were shot dead and 26 were wounded.
Officials said Voong entered the civic association armed with two heavy caliber automatic pistols -- a 9 mm and a .45 caliber handgun. He carried a bag filled with high capacity magazines, a survival knife and a flashlight, according to police.
Voong backed his car up to the rear door of the building to block any escape before he went to the front of the building and started to execute people, police said.
Voong, 41, also known as Linh Phat Voong, was from Johnson City, N.Y. He allegedly burst into the civic center wearing a bright green nylon jacket and dark-rimmed glasses and promptly shot the receptionist dead and then killed two other people. He then headed for another room of the civic association and opened fire again.
When the carnage was over, Voong's body was found on first the floor with a hunting knife jammed into the waistband of his pants.
"He shot those people? No. No," said a woman who identified herself as Voong's sister, but would not give her name when reached by ABC News.com.
She said her brother went to take classes today at the civic association and that she had not heard from him since. She said she did not know that he was involved in the shooting.
"I'm going to pass out," she said and hung up the phone.
Police also contacted Voong's sister to say her brother was dead. She told police that Voong was attending language classes at the civic center. She said Voong is a U.S. citizen and has been in this country for 28 years.
Voong had recently been laid off from IBM in Johnson City, U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a Democrat whose district includes Binghamton, told the Associated Press. The gunman opened fire on a citizenship class, he said.
"People were there in the process of being tested for their citizenship," Hinchey said. "It was in the middle of a test. He just went in and opened fire."
Several hours after the shooting began, hostages started exiting the building and police declared the gunman dead.
By 1:30 p.m., police began escorting people out of the building, but continued to treat the building as a crime scene where the shooter might still be lurking.
Eyewitness Account Eyewitness Nick Masucci, a community college student and Binghamton resident, said he watched as many as 20 people exit the building and get patted down by police.
"They look like immigrants, lots of different cultures coming out of there. Some people are getting patted down. The police are taking a lot of precautions, they're still taking cover," he said.
Several people were removed from the building on stretchers. Others left with their hands on their heads and were searched by police.
City councilman Martin Gerchman said he recently returned from the scene and said it looked like the building was "secure."
Earlier today police called Broome Community College to find someone who could speak fluent Vietnamese to "assist police with translation," said college spokesman Richard David.
Police, he said, did not indicated whether the translator, Professor Tuong Nguyen, was needed to speak with the shooter or with hostages, but believed the professor would be talking with the shooter.
Wilson Medical Center, the closest hospital to the site of the shootings, said three patients had been sent to its trauma center, one of them in critical condition.
One patient, according to a spokeswoman, had been brought to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
"We're on full alert anticipating we're going to get additional casualties," hospital spokeswoman Linda Miller said.
FBI Sent Hostage Negotiators People were told in nearby buildings to stay away from windows and Binghamton High School is under a lock-down as police are using the school as a staging area. The school is a block and a half away from the shooting site.
Ten ambulances were called to the scene and an FBI hostage rescue team is reportedly on the way.
"The FBI is providing assistance to the Binghamton Police Department," FBI spokesman Rich Kolko said. "FBI Albany has sent Hostage Negotiators, Evidence Response Team and Command Post assistance. This is a rapidly developing situation and we refer you to the Binghamton Police Department for any additional information."
The FBI and New York State Police sent hostage negotiators, evidence collection teams and investigators to support the efforts of the Binghamton police in securing the scene, collecting the evidence and guiding hostages and people who hid from the gunman to safety.
New York Gov. David Paterson said, "We are monitoring the situation and I have directed the State Police to assist the Binghamton Police Department in any way they can."
At the time of the shooting the civic association was holding citizenship classes.
‘We can be sure that Obama and the Democrats will use this — and the other recent high-profile events — as an excuse for more draconian “gun control” measures.’
They will try, but they have already failed in the most important sense - literally millions of guns have been sold since 0bama became a serious candidate, the majority either being ‘assault rifles’ or ‘hi-cap handguns’. The government can do what it likes at this point, but ESPECIALLY with the current government people won’t give up their guns. I doubt 0bama will have the political will to try since his plans are going so awry.
Gun control is improved by using both hands.
‘We can be sure that Obama and the Democrats will use this — and the other recent high-profile events — as an excuse for more draconian “gun control” measures.’
They will try, but they have already failed in the most important sense - literally millions of guns have been sold since 0bama became a serious candidate, the majority either being ‘assault rifles’ or ‘hi-cap handguns’. The government can do what it likes at this point, but ESPECIALLY with the current government people won’t give up their guns. I doubt 0bama will have the political will to try since his plans are going so awry.
Gun control is improved by using both hands.
Isn’t Binghamton an anti-gun city—like Philadelphia, Pa.?
So what you are saying is his religion and politics are as much a mystery to you as they are to me correct?
Please forgive my flippant response to you but seriously, 99 out of 100? That's like me saying that 99 out of 100 Americans are either "Christian" or "Atheist." For sure 85 out of 100 Americans claim to be "Christian." You don't read about "Christians" or Conservatives running around slaughtering innocent people. If you did it would be front page news. Being snotty with me isn't answering my questions; thank you very much.
Easy now, TAO—we’re on the same team here. neverdem was only offering potentially useful, dispassionate info. He/she really wasn’t being snotty.
No, Voong is without question a Hmong surname.
Besides, CNN and the NY Times have said that “Voong” is his alias and his real name is “Wong”, which is Chinese.
“Linh Phat”, his first and middle names, are Vietnamese—but that’s like saying he must be American/English (or whatever) since “Jiverly” is also his first name. SURNAME IS ALWAYS FAR MORE IMPORTANT TO CONSIDER: Jackie Chan is Chinese, not American, no?
At most, his is only part Vietnamese since his possible surnames are Wong (Chinese) or Voong (Hmong).
BTW, “Vuong” (with a “uo” as opposed to “Voong” with an “oo”) is also often a Chinese surname when trasliterated in Vietnamese.
Thank you for the information.
Flash back to Vietnam days??
Only a suicidal nutbar would do that. Homicidal nutbars set bombs on the window sill at shift change...
(FOBO reference)
neverdem wrote: “Linh is the surname.”
LOL.
Linh is the first name. Voong is the surname. But as I’ve already said in a previous post responding to you, the police dept. of Binghamton says his real name is Wong. Voong is an alias surname. (They also mistakenly said he is of Vietnamese ethnicity.) Wong is Chinese, no doubt about it. It’s one of the most common Chinese surnames worldwide.
neverdem wrote: “Voong is the bad transliteration of Vong(with a small question mark over the ‘o’) from Quoc Ngu, the name of the Vietnamese Alphabet which uses a bunch of diacritical marks to differentiate vowels...”
Again, Voong is Hmong.
Maybe you should look at these url’s:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_Chinese_surnames
-—Under 2006 rankings, look “Vong” at #2 and #7.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_name
-—No “Linh”, “Vong” nor “Voong” surnames on this page.
It also took the heat off a couple of Federal agencies for the slaughter at Waco by shifting public opinion. The OKC bombing was presented as 'payback' for the Waco massacre, and in the court of public opinion, more than settled the issue, even though the two events were likely completely unrelated.
The fact remains, that the OKC bombing, like other events, had happened at a time and in a way which permitted TPTB to capitalize on it for political gain, and in the process, Christians, Constitutionalists, Caucasians, rural folk, and gunowners were all collectively demonized to the point where Missouri still issues 'reports' decrying people as terrorist suspects based on bumper stickers.
Any information to the contrary was buried.
Yes - I was thinking the same thing.
Yes - I was thinking the same thing.
Interesting observation re: April.
Sorry, individual rights are about as basic a tenet as our country has. Nobody should be punished for who-knows-why some relative has done who-knows-what.
Ok, the following firmly settles it:
“Wong was ethnically Chinese but from Vietnam, a friend said Saturday.”
“Hoi Nguyen of Binghamton said his 36-year-old daughter Phuong Nguyen, who survived the massacre, was taking an English class in the basement when the gunfire started.”
Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090404/ap_on_re_us/binghamton_shootings
Thus, the gunman was Chinese, and the victims were nearly all non-white immigrants, a number of whom in fact were Vietnamese.
It is often difficult to distinguish between Vietnamese and Chinese by physical looks alone, but sometimes it is easy. Wong looks distinctively Chinese. Here’s a side photo of the guy:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/04/04/2009-04-04_who_is_jiverly_voong_aka_jiverly_wong_co.html
He had a bag full of magazines, even with the right twenty five year old Smith and Wesson, three or four 'standard' 9mm magazines would have done it. (The XD-9 currently is offered with a 19 round magazine, two full mags and one in the pipe would have been enough, if he never missed.)
All you need to do is attend a local event and read the write-up later. Chances are you will not recognize the event. Being "quoted" is really an eye opener.
I referred back to the original story in comment# 178. The first mention of another name was Linh Phat Voong besides Jiverly Voong. I also noted that a Vietnamese translator was sought, and that Linh Phat Vong was a recognizable Vietnamese name.
I forgot about the Hoa Hao and Cao Dai. Muslim is at the bottom of the list, but after decades of official communist atheism, Buddhist and Catholic are on the top of the list.
Please forgive my flippant response to you but seriously, 99 out of 100? That's like me saying that 99 out of 100 Americans are either "Christian" or "Atheist." For sure 85 out of 100 Americans claim to be "Christian." You don't read about "Christians" or Conservatives running around slaughtering innocent people. If you did it would be front page news. Being snotty with me isn't answering my questions; thank you very much.
97 out of 100 before the commies took over in 1975. How's that?
Here's another thread with the perp having a Chinese surname, Wong, which also mentions a possible Laotion ancestry.
14 Dead in Rampage in Binghamton, N.Y. (Perp had a NY pistol license with another alias)
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