Mayhem in Binghamton
I live in Syracuse, only 70 miles north of Binghamton. This is truly awful; it started around 10 this morning and was just winding down when I left work at 2:30.
Some of the victims are being transported here. It is very chaotic, but apparently 13 are dead, 2 are in critical condition and perhaps as many as twenty have been injured. The shooter appears to have died of a self inflicted GSW but two others have been taken into custody. Don’t know why and it is possible they could be released - listening to the local news now at 1617 hrs and those two have been released..
The gunman backed his vehicle up to a side door, blocking it so no one could open it, then walked into the front door and started shooting. It is a real mess because of the language difficulties. People were hiding themselves all through the building trying to conceal themselves form the killer nutjob.
Posted by sig94
04/03/2009 at 03:20 PM
By now, they know what kinds of weapons were used. If it was an eeeeeevil “assault weapon,” that would be all over the LSM. Had to be something different.
Posted by BlueStateSaint
04/03/2009 at 05:12 PM
Deer rifle I heard ... but there was major confusion at the time. Some said he had a big knife and 2 pistols as well.
These stories never make sense. Sometimes it takes weeks to piece together a reason, and often that’s just a guess.
i think Vong is actually pronounced Bong in Vietnamese; at least that is how someone I know with the same surname asked to be called. Sometimes we call him Phred.
Here’s the part that had BETTER give you pause…
Every story I’ve seen says “police arrived in under 2 minutes” but I found this buried in the second page of the story on one site:
...Police heard no gunfire after they arrived but 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…
As I said elsewhere, I just printed this and will carry it with my CCW permit. Should I ever be arrested for carry in a “prohibited place” this will be Defendant’s Exhibit #1.
Un-frigging-real…
DD
IIIPosted by Dedicated_dad
04/03/2009 at 09:53 PM
DD
Under 2 minutes? I’m amazed it took that long. The police department is at Hawley and State Street, hardly more than 3 blocks away.
Binghamton has a good PD, and it isn’t small. Broome County has a good Sheriff’s department too, about a mile and a half up Front Street. Plus the State Police are right nearby in several small stations in neighboring towns. Pretty sure the FBI has an office downtown.
The news said the place was crawling with over 100 police, FBI, and emergency workers.
I went back and reread the article I linked to, but I didn’t see any part about waiting an hour. From what I gather, the whole thing was actually over inside in a couple of minutes, but the police work went on half the afternoon.
Still, Dedicated Dad makes an excellent point: even when all the police in the county really are just minutes away, 2 minutes is long enough for a single gunman to kill dozens of unarmed people, even if he only has one revolver.
New York is NOT a shall-issue CCW state. Their handgun laws are a bit flexible, and “upstate” is where they are most flexible, but you are NOT allowed to just have a gun in your pocket because you feel like it. You can only have a gun in your pocket when you are doing, going off to do, or coming back from doing any of the approved reasons for owning a pistol that are listed on your permit. “Hiking, biking, fishing, hunting, target shooting” it says on mine. “Staying alive” is not one of the listed or listable reasons.
BlueStateSaint - sorry, no assault weapons. [/sarc] Just 2 pistols:
The man used two semi-automatic handguns. The man who borrowed the Toyota has two handguns registered to him, Zikuski said.
...
Two handguns were recovered at the scene, but there was “absolutely no indication any rifle was used.”In Pace Requiscat.
Posted by Turtler
04/06/2009 at 01:31 AM
