UPDATE: The gunman has been identified as Jeffrey Johnson, a 53-year-old women's accessories designer.
According to tentative news reports, nine people were shot outside the Empire State Building in New York City this morning. Two people are dead, including the shooter himself. Reports are still changing at this time, and it's still too early to understand exactly what's happened. While NYC is our neck of the woods, we are farther downtown from this tragedy, so we're relying on our colleagues uptown to keep you posted.
In a press conference, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg said "this has nothing to do with terrorism...New York City is the safest city in the country but we are not immune to the national problem of gun violence." (Huffington Post)
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Here's the latest from Twitter on this shocking, terrifying, saddening event:
Jeffrey Johnson, age 53, a women's accessories designer for a company named Hazan, has been identified as the lone gunman.
— Women's Wear Daily (@womensweardaily) August 24, 2012
Update: Nine injured and gunman killed in New York shooting incident, police confirm bbc.in/OA65x6
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 24, 2012
Live video: New York City officials hold press conference on Empire State Building shooting bit.ly/NO4i6m
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) August 24, 2012
Raw footage from AP shows the chilling scene. Even at our downtown offices, it's eerily quiet outside and there are helicopters everywhere.Update: The Post reports that Empire State Building shooting started as "a dispute between coworkers." nym.ag/MQyxwo
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) August 24, 2012