Striker49
07-23-2003, 08:28 AM
I just recieved this alert through my MSN Messneger. :huh
NEW YORK, July 23 — A man pulled a gun and began firing Wednesday from a balcony in the City Council chambers of New York City Hall, NBC News and local television reported. Colleagues and police said a City Council member was shot in the chest, and two law enforcement officers were carried out on stretchers.
http://a799.g.akamai.net/3/799/388/e0352af2c81afb/www.msnbc.com/news/1965288.jpg
NBC AFFILIATE WNBC-TV quoted witnesses as saying seven or eight shots were fired from the balcony shortly after 2 p.m. Reporters in the press room dived beneath their desks.
Witnesses said a security guard returned fire and that about a dozen shots in all were fired.
The Associated Press, quoting a police officer at the scene, and New York 1 cable television, quoting other council members, both reported that City Council member James Davis of Brooklyn, a former police officer, was shot twice in the chest.
WNBC quoted an officer on the scene as saying two law enforcement officers were also injured. No further details on any of the injuries were immediately available.
Subway stations around City Hall were closed, as were the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, as officers searched for the gunman, who was described as wearing a blue suit.
OFFICERS REPORTED INJURED
A spokesman for Bloomberg confirmed that the mayor was in his office at the time of the shooting but said he was not harmed, WNBC reported.
The City Council had just begun its meeting, and several hundred people were likely to have been in the building, City Council member Lew Fidler told WNBC. There was “general pandemonium” as members dived for cover before officers hustled the council members out of the building.
Fidler and others questioned how a gunman could have gotten past the building’s metal detectors with a firearm, but staffers in the building told reporters that employees known to guards were often allowed into the building unchecked.
This is a developing story. Check back with MSNBC.com for more details.
NEW YORK, July 23 — A man pulled a gun and began firing Wednesday from a balcony in the City Council chambers of New York City Hall, NBC News and local television reported. Colleagues and police said a City Council member was shot in the chest, and two law enforcement officers were carried out on stretchers.
http://a799.g.akamai.net/3/799/388/e0352af2c81afb/www.msnbc.com/news/1965288.jpg
NBC AFFILIATE WNBC-TV quoted witnesses as saying seven or eight shots were fired from the balcony shortly after 2 p.m. Reporters in the press room dived beneath their desks.
Witnesses said a security guard returned fire and that about a dozen shots in all were fired.
The Associated Press, quoting a police officer at the scene, and New York 1 cable television, quoting other council members, both reported that City Council member James Davis of Brooklyn, a former police officer, was shot twice in the chest.
WNBC quoted an officer on the scene as saying two law enforcement officers were also injured. No further details on any of the injuries were immediately available.
Subway stations around City Hall were closed, as were the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, as officers searched for the gunman, who was described as wearing a blue suit.
OFFICERS REPORTED INJURED
A spokesman for Bloomberg confirmed that the mayor was in his office at the time of the shooting but said he was not harmed, WNBC reported.
The City Council had just begun its meeting, and several hundred people were likely to have been in the building, City Council member Lew Fidler told WNBC. There was “general pandemonium” as members dived for cover before officers hustled the council members out of the building.
Fidler and others questioned how a gunman could have gotten past the building’s metal detectors with a firearm, but staffers in the building told reporters that employees known to guards were often allowed into the building unchecked.
This is a developing story. Check back with MSNBC.com for more details.