Onlookers crowding site of Empire State shooting

NEW YORK (WWLP) - One of the busiest sections of one of the world’s busiest cities is shut down, as police continue to investigate a shooting outside New York’s Empire State Building .

22News reporter Shannon Halligan is in Manhattan, where 5th Avenue is blocked off from 34th Street to 32nd Street, where police have set up a perimeter.

New York police say that nine other people were wounded during the shooting. The gunman, identified as fifty-four year old Jeffrey Johnson, and at least one other person have been killed. Police say that the shooting was the result of a work dispute, and federal officials do not believe it is related in any way to terrorism.

The nine other victims who were shot are expected to survive, some of the victims may have been hit by police bullets, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says. Police exchanged gunfire with Johnson, and he was killed as a result of the shootout.

The area near the Empire State Building is normally crowded with tourists, but even more people have gathered in the area, as curious onlookers are taking pictures and video. Large numbers of reporters have also gathered on the streets.

Johnson is a former employee of a company inside the Empire State Building, but was laid off about a year ago. Police believe he may have been trying to kill a former co-worker.