NYC City Hall (breaking News)

[nootsy]

Someone shot it up - Good luck getting home

[eddie3]

Originally posted by nootsy

Someone shot it up - Good luck getting home

more details.. please?

[jrzcluba]

Originally posted by eddie3

more details.. please?

click here

[badassmafuka]

NEW YORK (CNN) -- One person was killed and another wounded in a shooting Wednesday at New York's City Hall, and the shooter remains at large, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Councilman Joel Rivera said the gunman was talking with Councilman James Davis and then pulled out a handgun and shot him. The shooter had come in with one of Davis' staff members, Rivera said, which could indicate he did not have to go through standard security procedures.

Two people were carried out on stretchers. A Fire Department of New York spokesman said two were transported to NYU Hospital in Lower Manhattan. The hospital said it has two people from the scene, and both were receiving emergency treatment.

"This is an attack on democracy," said Bloomberg. "This is not terrorism -- it appears to be a random act."

Bloomberg was inside his office in the City Hall building when the shooting occurred, said his press secretary, Edward Skyler.

"We have a description of the shooter and that description is being used by the police at this moment -- they are searching City Hall and they are searching the neighborhood," Bloomberg said.

There are conflicting reports on whether the shooter was wounded.

Councilman Michael McMahon of Staten Island described the shooter as a man in his 40s wearing a cream-colored suit.

Several City Council members said they were in the chamber waiting for a session to begin when someone in the balcony fired multiple shots with a silver handgun -- and that a City Council member was hit and fell to the ground.

Then, the shooter appeared to be shot, and he fell down, City Council members said. It was not clear who shot him.

"All pandemonium broke out," McMahon said.

Councilwoman Gale Brewer described a scene of panic.

"We dove under our desks and we were piled on top of each other because so many of us had never experienced something like this," she said. "Soon, everyone was running down the stairs to get out of the building."

"We were running really fast. People were tripping, they were falling -- they were even falling over the line in front of the guard rail. And then we ran down into the rotunda of the City Hall and then we were told by the police to run even further. People were jumping over the fence that is in City Hall parking lot to get out into the street," she said.

[nootsy]

NEW YORK (July 23) - A gunman opened fire during a hearing inside City Council chambers Wednesday afternoon, leaving two victims sprawled side by side on a second-floor balcony. Police were searching for the shooter.

One council member was shot twice in the chest, according to a police officer at the scene. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was in his office but was not harmed, said his spokesman, Edward Skyler.

''This is an attack on democracy. We will not stop until we find who did this. It is not terrorism. It appears to be a random act, but we cannot allow this to go on, ever. This is an attack on all Americans,'' Bloomberg said.

At least a dozen shots echoed across the second floor of the landmark lower Manhattan building, sending people diving for cover beneath their desks as the hall's rotunda filled with screams.

''It was so loud you couldn't hear the direction,'' said City Council photographer Dan Luhmann. ''At first, it was absolute stillness. And then people rushed out and ducked under their desks and it was chaotic.''

The shooter was one of about 100 people on the balcony inside the second-floor council chambers when the gunfire began after 2 p.m, according to eyewitnesses.

''It was panic, It was bedlam it was chaos. People had stunned, shocked looks on their faces and didn't know where to go,'' Councilman Charles Barron told CNN.

''I looked up, and I saw someone shooting downward,'' said City Council member David Yassky. A security guard returned fire, according to Yassky.

Two victims were rushed from the front of the building on stretchers, loaded into ambulances and brought to New York University Downtown Hospital with gunshot wounds, said hospital spokeswoman Vanessa Warner.

An emergency worker said the two victims were lying side by side in the balcony, both with bullet wounds to the chest.

Police sought a man in a blue suit in connection with the shooting, which continued for about three minutes.

Police officers, including some in riot gear, were seen running across the plaza in front of the building once the shooting stopped. The entrances and exits to the building were sealed off.

Security, particularly since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, was stepped up at City Hall. Metal detectors were installed at either end of the barricades, along with metal barricades. A uniformed police officer is posted at the gate.

Employees, reporters with current press passes and police officers are not required to pass through a metal detector. It was not immediately clear how the gunman got a weapon inside.

[Reeni]

1 dead one other is in critical condition

[Reeni]

James Davis council member and ex cop has passed away his named was just released