In this sequence of images taken from a surveillance video camera and released by the New York City Police Department, police officers approach Jeffrey Johnson, after he shot his former colleague Steven Ercolino, near the Empire State Building in New York, Friday, Aug. 24, 2012. Johnson, upper left in frames, was shot and killed by police as bystanders fled. (AP Photo/New York City Police Department)
GALLERIES
Scene Photos from the Empire State Building Shooting [Warning: Graphic]
Graphic photos show the scene where a laid-off clothing designer fatally shot an executive.
More >
VIDEO
Video: Empire State Building Shooting News Conference
Mayor: Some of the victims may have been hit by police bullets.
more >
Audio: Empire State Building Shooting
NYPD radio traffic as gunman opens fire and is taken down.
more >
FEATURED IN NEWS
- Metro-Washington Airport Officer Shot and Killed by Wife
- New York Student Killed During Shooting between Intruder and Police
- College Student, Intruder Killed in New York Break-In
- Motorcycle Deputy Critically Hurt in East Georgia Dies
- Ohioan to Appeal Conviction in 'Dying Blinks' Case
- Woman in Towed Car Likely Died at North Carolina Crash Scene, Autopsy Finds
- New Mexico Mom Chases Down Child Abductor; Man Arrested
NEW YORK (AP) — The veteran patrolmen who opened fire on a gunman outside the Empire State Building had only an instant to react when the man whirled around and pointed a .45-caliber pistol at police as they approached him from behind on a busy sidewalk.
LawOfficer: 9 Shot Outside NYC Empire State Building
Officer Craig Matthews shot seven times, and Officer Robert Sinishtaj fired nine times, police say. Neither had ever fired their weapons before on a patrol.
The volley of gunfire felled Jeffrey Johnson in just a few seconds and left nine other people bleeding on the sidewalk.
In the initial chaos Friday, it wasn't clear whether Johnson or the officers were responsible for the trail of wounded. But based on ballistic and other evidence, "it appears that all nine of the victims were struck either by fragments or by bullets fired by police," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters Saturday at a community event in Harlem.
Police officials have said the officers appeared to have no choice but to shoot Johnson, whose body had 10 bullet wounds in the chest, arms and legs.
Police determined that three people were struck by whole bullets — two of which were removed from victims at the hospital — and the rest were grazed "by fragments of some sort," Kelly said.
Two women with leg wounds and a man with a wound to his buttocks required surgery and remained hospitalized Saturday. They were listed in stable condition.
Both Matthews, 39, and Sinishtaj, 40, joined the nation's largest police department 15 years ago. The union representing the two officers didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The officers confronted Johnson as he walked down the street after gunning down a former co-worker on the sidewalk outside the office they once shared. The shooting happened as the neighborhood bustled with people arriving for work.
The gunman and his victim, Steve Ercolino, had a history of workplace squabbles before Johnson was laid off from their company, Hazan Import Corp., a year ago. At one point, the two men had grappled physically in an elevator.
A security videotape from the scene Friday shows several civilians — including three sitting on a bench only a few feet away — scattering as the officers opened fire.
___
Contributing to this report from New York were David B. Caruso, Colleen Long and the AP News Research Center.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
