Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

August 24, 2012

2 killed, 9 wounded outside Empire State Building

From news service reports

NEW YORK — Jeffrey Johnson hid behind a car in his business suit and tie near the Empire State Building, waiting for the man he blamed for costing him his job. He put a gun to the executive's head and fired five times, then walked off with his briefcase into the morning rush of midtown Manhattan.

Minutes later, Johnson was dead in front of the landmark skyscraper, killed by police Friday in a chaotic confrontation that wounded nine other people, sent bullets ricocheting and left sidewalks near one of the world's best-known landmarks spattered with blood.

The bystanders were likely hit by police officers' stray gunfire, some of them bullets that rebounded off of planters in front of the skyscraper and grazed pedestrians. The two officers fired 16 shots, but police believe Johnson only pointed the gun at them and didn't fire, investigators said.

Startled New Yorkers looked up from their morning routines in the crowded business district to see people sprawled in the streets bleeding and a tarp covering the body in front of the tourist landmark.

"I was on the bus and people were yelling 'get down, get down," said accountant Marc Engel. "I was thinking, 'you people are crazy, no one is shooting in the middle of midtown Manhattan at 9 o'clock in the morning."

It was over in seconds he said — "a lot of pop, pop, pop, pop, one shot after the other." Afterwards he saw sidewalks littered with the wounded, including one man "dripping enough blood to leave a stream."

Johnson, 58, who neighbors had seen leave his apartment in a suit every day since he was laid off a year ago — often returning with breakfast from McDonald's — had worked for six years for Hazan Imports and was let go when the company downsized, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

Police were looking into his relationship with the victim, Steven Ercolino, the company's vice president of sales, who had traded accusations of harassment with Johnson when he worked there. Johnson also blamed Ercolino for his layoff, saying that he hadn't aggressively marketed Johnson's new T-shirt line, police spokesman Paul Browne said.

After waiting for Ercolino, 41, to come to work, Johnson walked up to him, pulled out a .45-caliber pistol and fired at his head, Kelly said. After he fell to the ground, Johnson stood over him and shot four more times, a witness told investigators.

"Jeffrey just came from behind two cars, pulled out his gun, put it up to Steve's head and shot him," said Carol Timan, whose daughter, Irene, was walking to Hazan Imports at the time with Ercolino.

A construction worker who saw the shooting followed Johnson and alerted two police officers, a detail regularly assigned to patrol city landmarks like the 1,454-foot skyscraper since the 9/11 terror attacks, officials said.

Johnson pulled his gun out of his briefcase and pointed it; and the officers drew their weapons and fired 16 rounds, police said.

"These officers, having looked at the tape myself, had absolutely no choice," Kelly said.

"When the public sees the video that we're going to put out, the officers have a gun right in their face," the commissioner said at a briefing later Friday. "They responded, they responded quickly, and they responded appropriately."

(Continued on page 2)

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