14 Killed at New York Immigration Center 因英语水平低就业压力大而.

billzhao · 发表于 2009-4-5 16:36

Authorities found the gunman dead

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. --

The man who police say killed 13 people in a shooting rampage at an immigrant community center was depressed and angry over losing his job and about his poor English skills, friends and officials said Saturday.

The gunman, believed to be 42-year-old Vietnamese immigrant Jiverly Voong, had been complaining that he couldn't find work and that his unemployment checks were only $200 a week, a friend told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Hue Huynh, a Binghamton grocery store proprietor whose husband worked with Voong years ago, said the man had driven a truck in California before recently returning to Binghamton, then losing a job there.

"He's upset he don't have a job here. He come back and want to work," she said. Her husband tried to cheer him by telling him he was still young and there was plenty of time to find work, but he complained about his "bad luck," she said.

On Friday, he barricaded the American Civic Association community center's back door with his car, walked in the front and started shooting with two handguns. Within minutes, a receptionist, 12 immigrants taking a citizenship class and the gunman were dead.

Another receptionist, 61-year-old Shirley DeLucia, played dead after she was shot in the abdomen and called 911 to get police to the scene within two minutes.

Zikuski said the injured receptionist stayed on the phone for 90 minutes, "feeding us information constantly," despite a serious wound in the abdomen.

"She's a hero in her own right," he said.

DeLucia was in critical condition at a hospital Saturday, along with another victim in the same condition and another in serious condition. A fourth victim was in stable condition at another hospital.

Thirty-seven others made it out, including 26 who hid for hours in a basement boiler room while police tried to determine whether the gunman was still alive and whether he was holding any hostages, Zikuski said.

Investigators said they had yet to establish a motive for the shooting. It was at least the fifth fatal mass shooting in the U.S. in the past month, and the nation's deadliest since April 2007, when 32 people and a gunman died at Virginia Tech.

The suspected killer carried ID with the name of 42-year-old Jiverly Voong, of nearby Johnson City, N.Y., but that was believed to be an alias, said a law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The man was found dead in an office with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, a satchel containing ammunition slung around his neck, authorities said. Police found two handguns - a 9 mm and a .45-caliber - and a hunting knife.

A second law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the handguns were registered to Jiverly Wong, another name the man used. Both officials were not authorized to speak publicly.

A woman who answered the phone at a listing for Henry D. Voong said she was Jiverly Voong's sister but would not give her name. She said her brother had been in the country for 28 years and had citizenship.

Huynh said that the man's sister regularly shops at her store and that the family is ethnically Chinese but from Vietnam, like herself. The family came to the U.S. in the early 1990s, she said.

Police Chief Joseph Zikuski told NBC's "Today" that people "degraded and disrespected" the gunman over his poor English. Mayor Matthew Ryan, speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America," said the man was angry about his language problems in addition to his lack of employment.

The mayor told ABC that the gunman "had lost a job recently and was somewhat angry."

"He had language issues, didn't speak English that well, and was really concerned about his employment situation," Ryan said.

Accounts varied about the suspect's work history. Zikuski told "Today" that the shooter had worked in Binghamton for Shop-Vac, which closed in November. The sister told the AP on Friday that her brother worked at a company where "they make the vacuums."

Initial reports suggested Voong had recently been let go from IBM, which has roots in the region, but a person at IBM said there was no record of a Jiverly Voong ever working there. His father, Henry Voong, does work there as a contractor.

Huynh said her husband had worked with Voong years ago at IBM and that he had recently been let go from IBM again after returning from California.

The attack at the American Civic Association, which helps immigrants settle in this country, came just after 10 a.m. as people from all over the globe - Latin America, China, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Africa - gathered for English and citizenship lessons in an effort to become a bigger part of their new home.

The gunman parked his car against the back door before barging through the front and opening fire, apparently without saying a word. He then entered a room just off the reception area and fired on a citizenship class while terrified people scrambled into a boiler room and a storage room.

Abdelhak Ettouri, a Moroccan immigrant who lives in nearby Johnson City, told the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin he found the back door locked when he tried to flee, then ran to hide in the basement as he heard 12 to 14 shots: "Tak-tak-tak-tak."

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.

"She said it sounded like a firecracker and everyone in the class was startled," he said. "Then the teacher locked the door, called the police, then told everyone they couldn't leave the room."

Police arrived in minutes, heard no gunfire and waited for about an hour before entering the building to make sure it was safe for officers. They then spent two hours searching the building. They led a number of men out in plastic handcuffs while trying to sort out victims from the killer or killers.

The police chief said the suspected gunman "was no stranger" to the community center and may have gone there to take a class. He said he had no idea what the shooter's motive was.

On Friday evening, police searched Voong's house and carried out three computer hard drives, a brown canvas rifle case, a briefcase, a small suitcase and several paper bags.

The shootings took place in a neighborhood of homes and small businesses in downtown Binghamton, a city of about 47,000 situated 140 miles northwest of New York City.

The region was the home to Endicott-Johnson shoe company and the birthplace of IBM, which between them employed tens of thousands of workers before the shoe company closed a decade ago and IBM downsized in recent years.

A string of attacks in the U.S. in the last month left 44 people dead in all.

A gunman killed 10 people and himself in Samson, Ala.; shootings that began with a traffic stop in Oakland, Calif., left four police officers and the gunman dead; an apparent murder-suicide in Santa Clara, Calif., left six dead; and a gunman went on a rampage at a nursing home Sunday, killing seven elderly residents and a nurse who cared for them

枪手生前曾因英语水平低、就业压力大而沮丧愤怒，但由于枪手未留遗言，确切作案动机可能“永远成谜”

　　据新华社电美国纽约州宾厄姆顿市公民协会办事处3日发生枪击事件，造成包括凶手在内的14人死亡，4人受伤。中国驻纽约总领事馆副总领事施泳4日说，3日发生在美国纽约州宾厄姆顿的枪击事件中有4名中国公民丧生。

　　总领馆人员向遇难者家属表示慰问

　　施泳说，据当地警局向中国驻纽约总领事馆通报，在3日发生的枪击事件中，有4名中国公民死亡。目前他们的具体身份警方正在确认中，可能于当地时间5日正式公布。

　　施泳说，中国驻美国大使周文重和中国驻纽约总领事彭克玉都非常关心这一事件，指示要全力以赴地配合遇难者家属，做好领事保护的有关工作，他们还委托总领馆人员向遇难者家属表示慰问。

　　施泳说，这4名遇难中国公民来自4个不同家庭，单位和背景各不相同，但事发时都是在同一个补习班里上课。他目前已经接触到部分遇难者家属，并已经根据他们的要求与国内有关部门取得联系，为他们前来处理有关事宜提供护照签证等方面的支持。

　　他还说，在这起枪击事件中还有一名中国留学生受伤，总领事馆已经派专人前往医院看望，并到学校和保险公司等有关单位协调治疗和亲属探望等事宜。这名中国留学生目前状况稳定，没有生命危险。

　　4名遇害中国公民全是女性

　　外交部长杨洁篪5日与美国国务卿希拉里·克林顿通电话，就中国公民在美国纽约州宾厄姆顿市枪击案中伤亡向美方表示关切。

　　杨洁篪说，据初步核实，4月3日上午发生在美国纽约州宾厄姆顿市的枪击案造成包括4名中国女性公民在内的多人死亡，另一名中国公民受伤。这是一起十分严重的事件，中国政府表示严重关切。我们对上述中国公民及其他无辜遇难者表示哀悼，对受伤人员和死难者家属表示慰问。中方希望美方妥善处理遇难中国公民的善后事宜，及时救治中国受伤公民，并为有关中国公民家属办理赴美签证提供迅速和充分的协助及便利。中国驻美国大使馆和驻纽约总领事馆也正在就上述问题同美方有关部门紧急进行联系。杨洁篪要求美方采取必要措施，切实保障在美中国公民的人身及财产安全。

　　希拉里·克林顿国务卿对中国公民在枪击案中不幸遇难表示哀悼，对受伤中国公民和遇难者家属表示慰问。她说，发生在纽约州宾厄姆顿市的枪击案是一起悲剧性事件，美方有关部门正在调查事件原因。美方将会认真对待中方的要求，全力为受伤中国公民提供医疗救治，并为有关中国公民家属办理赴美签证提供迅速和全面的协助。

朝阳 · 发表于 2009-4-6 17:06

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