Shooting Outside Empire State Building Results in 9 Injuries, All by Police Gunfire

Activist Post

After a disgruntled ex-employee of an apparel company Jeffrey Johnson, 58, of Manhattan killed former co-worker, Steven Ercolino, 41, he was then later shot dead by police in an incident that began at 9 a.m. outside the Empire State Building. In all, 2 women and 7 men were injured in the ensuing shootout with police. Today, CNN reports that according to police commissioner, Ray Kelly in the video below, all of those wounded occurred from police bullets.

Mayor Bloomberg has come out to say that this is not an act of terrorism. However, the new narrative of “mass shooting” has already been spread across mainstream media, which certainly warrants retraction in this case following the details that this was not a random shooting of multiple people, but rather a targeted one. This does not make the event any less tragic, but should call into question how the media portrays gun violence, and subsequent calls for gun control and gun bans. It should also call into question how police are responding to crime; particularly in New York City, which has one of the largest surveillance networks in the world, known as the “ring of steel” – even working to implement supposed pre-crime technology. Rather than high-tech toys, it seems more evident that the NYPD needs gun safety 101 – as one still frame from the shooting even seems to indicate an officer firing in the wrong direction.