Empire State shooting

[scourge]

[Updated at 12:16 a.m. ET] New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg praised police and civilians for their quick response to a shooting outside the Empire State Building on Friday morning, which left two dead and nine injured.

"There is no doubt that the situation would've been even more tragic except for the extraordinary acts of heroism," Bloomberg said in a media conference. "New York City is the safest big city in this country but we are not immune to the national problem of symptom is the cause when only votes and money count."

Gunman Jeffrey Johnson, 53, killed one person before he was shot to death outside the busy tourist destination on 34th Street and Fifth Avenue in a chaotic scene just after 9 a.m., Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. In addition to being home to a popular tourist destination in Midtown Manhattan, the area is also a busy commercial district.

"I saw people running and I didn't know what happened. I thought it was a celebrity spotting," said witness Rebecca Fox, who was on her way to work when the shootings broke out. "It was a very surreal scene."

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/24/shooting-reported-outside-empire-state-building/

[indjaseemun]

What's up with them shootaz? 

[Humanicide]

I'm honestly surprised he didn't injure/kill more people. Especially given his surroundings.

[Perennial_Man]

What's up with them shootaz? 

A society of women-men was finally too much to bear and he was only trying to help. At 55, it is somewhat reasonable for someone to do this, though he could have done better unfortunately.

[§Transcix]

Haha new development to the story, it turns out it was the police who injured the nine people from ricochets in their attempt to take down the gunman.

[scourge]

That's why we need to move on to directed energy beam firearms or back to swords. Bullets are for primitives and savages. They're one step up from monkey rock throwing.

[Perennial_Man]

Heads up, just another run of the mill shooter popping up for police target practice and heroism, but update, the police are the ones harming us. What message do they want to communicate? This society is ass backwards confused. More people should be hiding in their cupboards, though they still persist to participate in whatever meaningless way they can for self-gratification.

[fallot]

That's why we need to move on to directed energy beam firearms or back to swords. Bullets are for primitives and savages. They're one step up from monkey rock throwing.

Primitives and savages are wonderful. Seriously, spend a day at a shooting range and see if you still think this way (I mean, if you haven't). Swords do deserve a comeback though.

I don't think energy weapons would measure up to the sheer violence and beauty of a piece of crafted metal being hurled with precision towards deadly consequences. If it's a step up from rock throwing, that's great too. We are monkeys.

[Humanicide]

That's why we need to move on to directed energy beam firearms or back to swords. Bullets are for primitives and savages. They're one step up from monkey rock throwing.

Silliness. Absolute silliness.

I agree the sword needs to make a comeback but generalizing a piece of machinery that can be so diverse and can accomplish many things given proper usage into "monkey rock throwing" is absurd. Besides, as fallot pointed out, we are monkeys. Let's not lose the primitive.

[scourge]

Don't underestimate the spectacular possibilities of a particle accelerator, an x-ray laser or especially a fat plasma round contained in a gel until it splashes hellfire on target.

Assault rifle with tracers on a night fire range and machine gun lighting a grassy field on fire pale in comparison. Promise!