C T Online Desk: At least four people including a police officer were killed Monday after a gunman walked into a skyscraper in central Manhattan and opened fire in broad daylight, officials said.
A fifth victim was also in critical condition after being shot, while the gunman apparently took his own life, Mayor Eric Adams told a late-night briefing at a hospital near the scene of the shooting.
The gunman was caught on surveillance footage leaving a black BMW carrying an M-4 rifle before entering the building, immediately opening fire on a police officer before “spraying the lobby” with bullets, police commissioner Jessica Tisch told a press conference.
An office tower block at 345 Park Avenue — home to hedge fund giant Blackstone, auditor KPMG and the National Football League — was apparently targeted by the gunman, Tisch said. She said that the suspect was believed to have acted alone.
Tisch gave the shooter’s name as Shane Tamura from Las Vegas and said a revolver, ammunition and magazines were found in his vehicle. She said Tamura had a history of mental health issues.
The incident began around 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) when reports of gunfire prompted hundreds of police to swarm a busy office district on the storied Park Avenue, an area popular with tourists and visiting businesspeople.
A worker from a nearby office building wept as she left the area after a local lockdown was lifted, while another described a gunman going floor to floor as staff prepared to leave for the day.
“We lost four souls to another act of senseless violence,” Adams said, without counting the gunman who also died, apparently by a self-inflicted gunshot.
Adams said the fallen police officer, an immigrant from Bangladesh who was 36 years old, was among the dead.
Two other males and a female died and another man remained in a critical condition, officials said without giving any preliminary motive for the shootings.
Office worker Shad Sakib told AFP that he was packing his things to leave work when a public address announcement warned him and his colleagues to shelter in place.
“Everyone was confused with like, ‘wait, what’s going on?’ And then someone finally realized that it’s online, that someone walked in with a machine gun,” said the witness who wore a grey suit jacket.
“He walked right into a building right next door. We saw the photo of him walking through the same area that I walked through to get lunch here.
“You would think it won’t happen to you, and then it does.”
