unrelated cuz i dont wanna make a thread and someone else will.
News Americas 'Deaths' in New York State shooting
Police were reported to have surrounded the building where about 40 hostages remain [AFP]
Several people are reported to have been shot dead and another 41 taken captive by a gunman at a centre providing aid to immigrants in New York State.
At least four people were shot dead the American Civic Association building, used to provide services to immigrants, in Binghamton on Friday, the local WBNG television's website said.
Police have surrounded the building where the hostages are being held.
A number of people escaped after the man reportedly entered the building in Binghamton, about 240 km northwest of New York City, and began shooting.
Emergency service workers are said to have been in contact with some of the people still being held.
Reports said that some people were hiding in the basement and others in a closet.
The FBI and hostage negotiators were said to be on their way to the town, which has a population of 45,000, from their regional office.
Surrounding streets and a nearby high school have been closed by the police
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13 feared dead in New York shooting
ReutersApril 3, 2009 10:27 AM
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Residents looking at a crime scene on Friday in Binghamton, New York, where as many as 13 people may have been killed in a rampage by a gunman at a civic center, local radio reported.
Photograph by: CNN screen grab, AFP/Getty Images
NEW YORK - A man opened fire in a building where services are provided to immigrants in the New York town of Binghamton on Friday, killing a number of people and taking up to 40 hostages, local media reported.
Several media reports said four people were dead. The news director of WNBF radio told CNN up to 13 people may have been killed, citing police and other unnamed sources.
Four people were removed from the American Civic Association building on stretchers and taken to hospitals, the Press & Sun-Bulletin newspaper reported on its website.
A police special weapons and tactics team was on the scene and the shooter was still inside, the newspaper said, citing police. Television coverage showed police armed with rifles, some carrying shields, deployed around the building.
As many as 41 people were inside the building when a man entered and started shooting, WBNG television news reported on its website, citing police scanners.
Some people escaped to a basement and more than a dozen were hiding in a closet, WBNG said, reporting that emergency dispatchers had been in contact with people inside.
The American Civic Association building is used to teach English and provide other services to recently immigrants to the United States who are preparing for U.S. citizenship, Bob Joseph, the news director for WNBF radio, said in an interview with CNN.
He said his sources described the shooter as an Asian man in his 20s, and that the shooter may have blocked the rear entrance to the building with a parked car.
Police closed down surrounding streets and locked down a high school, WBNG said.
Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan, who was at the scene, said there was a hostage situation and the shooter had a high-powered rifle, the Press & Sun-Bulletin said.
Binghamton is about 150 miles (240 km) northwest of New York City with a population of about 45,000.
Last month, a man killed 10 people, many of them family members, in a shooting rampage in Alabama.
Mass shootings have become more frequent in recent years in the United States, where guns are widely available for purchase and the right to own weapons for self defense and hunting is defended by many.
On April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech, a university in Blacksburg, Virginia, became the site of the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history when a student gunman killed 32 people and himself.
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