Jiverly Voong Kills 14, Wounds 26 In Binghamton, NY

Jiverly Wong AKA Jiverly Voong

Jiverly Voong

Source: ABC News:

As many as 13 people have been shot dead and another 26 wounded in a shooting rampage inside an upstate New York civic association building that caters to immigrants, according to federal and state authorities. The gunman, Jiverly Voong, held dozens of people hostage for several hours before shooting himself to death, police said. According to multiple state law enforcement officials, the gunman entered the one-story American Civic Association in downtown Binghamton about 10 a.m. today and began a shooting spree.

Voong, 41, also known as Linh Phat Voong, was from Johnson City, N.Y. He burst into the civic center wearing a bright green nylon jacket and dark-rimmed glasses. Voong’s body was found on first floor with a hunting knife jammed into the waistband of his pants. Officials said Voong backed his car up to the rear door of the building to block any escape before he went to the front of the building and started to execute people. Police officials said two weapons have been found. According to one police report a 9 millimeter pistol was recovered as SWAT team officers entered the building. Several hours after the shooting began, hostages began exiting the building and police declared the gunman dead.

Update

Jiverly Voong hated U.S., felt “degraded” over his bad English

Vietnamese immigrant Jiverly Wong, 41, AKA Jiverly Voong, was behind the upstate massacre of 13 people. “He was heavily armed and had a lot of ammunition with him,” Chief Joe Zikuski told a Binghamton news conference. Wong shot his victims repeatedly during the brief and brutal attack inside the American Civic Association. He then killed himself as three wounded victims looked on, the chief said. Wong, who was often mocked for his inability to speak English, was taking language classes at the association until dropping out in the first week of March. He also slipped into despair after recently losing his job at a local factory, the chief said – although neither his unemployment or his anger fully explained the cold-blooded rampage.

From Huffpo:

Voong was the “kind of guy who would come in mad one day and shoot people,” said Kevin Greene, who described himself as a former co-worker of the alleged shooter at a Shop Vac assembly plant that had since closed, the New York Daily News reported. Greene said that he had asked Voong — who he knew as Jiverly Wong — whether he liked the New York Yankees. “He said, ‘No, I don’t like that team. I don’t like America. America sucks,” Greene said, adding that Voong’s penchant for guns was well known and that the alleged killer often practiced shooting at range.