NEW YORK -- Police say six people wounded in a shooting outside the Empire State Building have been treated at a hospital and released.
The New York Police Department says three other victims are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. One of them is being treated for elevated blood pressure.
A laid-off clothing designer fatally shot a former colleague near the skyscraper Friday morning. He then was shot dead by police officers during a confrontation that wounded the nine bystanders, who suffered graze wounds or other minor injuries.
Dramatic surveillance video shows the confrontation lasted only a few seconds.
Police say the officers responded appropriately when shooter Jeffrey Johnson pointed his gun at them.
Police have identified the shooter as fifty-three-year-old Jeffrey Johnson, who was reportedly laid off about a year ago from a company housed in the Empire State Building.
Police say Johnson opened fire with a .45-caliber pistol at about 9 a.m. Friday on the Fifth Avenue side of the building. He was shot dead by police.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg says some victims in the shooting may have been hit by police bullets.
His victim was identified as Steven Ercolino, a vice president at Hazan Import. That is the company where Johnson worked until he was laid off a year ago.
A man who answered the phone at Ercolino's parents' home in the city's suburbs says "he was a good son." Police haven't released Ercolino's name, but a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed his identity.
Federal officials say the shooting isn't related to terrorism, and a guard at the landmark said it didn't involve the parts of the building where tourists gather to visit the skyscraper.Aliyah Imam tells Fox 5 News that she was standing at a red light when a woman standing next to her fell to the ground. She says the woman was hit in the hip. She says the gunman was "shooting indiscriminately at people."
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the innocent victims of today’s tragic shootings and their families," said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a statement. "For those of us in government, and in law enforcement, the news of yet another mass shooting so close on the heels of the massacres at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and in Aurora, Colorado, should make it crystal clear that our current laws have failed to protect the public from gun violence. We must redouble our efforts to protect public safety so that New Yorkers don’t have to live in fear of the next deadly attack.”
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said, in a written statement: "I am deeply saddened by the tragic events that unfolded this morning near the Empire State Building. On behalf of the Assembly, I offer our condolences and our prayers for the victims of this tragedy and for their families. There have been far too many victims of gun violence across the country, and today's incident points to the need for sensible gun laws that ensure the safety and security of all."
Local news sites in New York City:
CBS New York, CBS New York on Twitter
NBC New York, NBC 4 on Twitter
(Information from the Associated Press was used in this story.)
