Binghamton Rampage: Gunman, 13 Others Dead Officials: Massacre Designed For Maximum Bloodshed Gunman Identified As Jiverly Voong, 42, Of Johnson City, N.Y.
A gunman opened fire on immigrants taking a test to become Americans, and then killed himself.
The tragic incident happened 180 miles northwest of New York City.
Hours later, the questions turned to why.
After a day of carnage, people in Binghamton gathered Friday night to light candles and pray.
"Community is the way we survive these things," a local minister said to the crowd.
It was a massacre designed for maximum bloodshed. Many of the victims were trapped inside the American Civic Center, which provides citizenship help to immigrants and refugees.
"We heard four shots when we were down in the parking lot. Bam, bam, bam, bam. That's when we looked and saw everyone running inside," witness Kenneth Youmans said.
The gunman has been tentatively identified as 42-year-old immigrant Jiverly Voong. Police said before he started shooting, the gunman first barricaded the back of the building with his car. He then walked to the front door, and opened fire. He first shot two receptionists at the front desk. One was killed. The other managed to call for help despite a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
"She pretended she was dead after he shot her. She went down on the ground. He went to a room off the reception area and shot several people. As he went down the hallway in the building, she crawled underneath the desk and sometime after that she called us," Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said.
That receptionist stayed on the phone with police for 90 minutes, while the rampage continued.
The gunman aimed at his next targets -- a class of immigrants taking a citizenship exam. SWAT teams surrounded the building immediately. Nearby apartments were also evacuated.
"It's crazy. It's scary. You see this in the movies. You don't expect it to happen in Binghamton," resident Robert Wise said.
Those who could ran for their lives. Twenty-six people hid in the building's boiler room.
"We had to repeatedly reassure them over a period of a few hours to not come out, that we will come and find you," Chief Zikuski said.
At least 37 people got out safely. Police found two handguns at the scene, but still don't have a motive for the crime.
Who was Jiverly Voong?
Chief Zikuski said the shootings were "obviously premeditated."
The big question Friday night was who the gunman was and were there any warning signs.
His rampage came one day after he was laid off from a multinational corporation.
Johnson City is just a few miles west of Binghamton, and it was home to Voong. Neighbors said he shared a Taylor Street house with father and sister.
"It's just insane, it's scary. You don't ever know what is going on and it's just a tragedy that something like that could happen and it could be someone that lives so close to you," neighbor Barbara Monell said.
As detectives removed a rifle case, computer hard drives, and other evidence from the home, a call was made to the house and a woman who answered and identified herself as Voong's sister said, "He didn't have a gun. I think he got shot by somebody else."
Police said Voong had two registered guns, but could not confirm if they were the two recovered at the scene: a 9 mm with an extended clip of ammo, and a .45 caliber.
Investigators said the menacing man in the bright green jacket, black rimmed glasses and a satchel of weaponry was Voong. He was an immigrant from Vietnam targeting other immigrants he likely knew personally because he took classes at the center.
"My heart goes out to the families," Rep. Maurice Hinchey said earlier Friday.
Hinchey said his office was told by four sources the gunman was recently laid off by IBM, but an IBM representative told wcbstv.com on Friday night there was no record of a Jiverly Voong ever working at the company. Investigators said Jiverly Voong also went by the name Lin Voong. They believe he borrowed the car used to block the back entrance, and it did not appear that Voong had a criminal record.
"We've got to figure a way to deal with this senseless, senseless violence," Vice President Joe Biden said on Friday.
Added New York Gov. David Paterson: "When are we going to be able to curb the kind of violence that is so fraught and so rapid that we can't even keep track of the incidents?"
Voong's sister also said he moved here from Vietnam 14 years ago and was granted his U.S. citizenship.
People close to him are being interviewed by investigators, as they try to figure out a cold blooded killer.