Following the mass shootings first in Aurora, Colorado and then at the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, the shooting outside the Empire State Building in New York marks the third mass shooting this summer in the United States. The incident occurred at 34th Street and Fifth Avenue, near New York’s most famous skyscraper.

Just after 9AM, local time, a gunman opened fire in the street near the Empire State Building. According to the New York Post, two men who were coworkers started arguing in the street during the morning rush. They began fighting on the pavement when one of them drew a gun and shot the other fatally in the head, after striking him three times. The shooter then put his gun in his black bag and walked away from the scene.

A local construction worker, Chris Ogden, saw the gunman opening fire and then informed officers near the Empire State Building. New York Police Department arrived at the scene within a few minutes after receiving the emergency call. The New York Police Department officers, who were on foot, confronted the gunman who turned to his gun and fired at them. One of the officers killed the gunman in the confrontation. Police later confirmed that the gunman had indeed been shot dead.

Counting the shooter, there were a total of two deaths at the scene and nine more people were injured — four women and five men. Some of them may have been shot accidentally by officers, but they have all been taken to a number of hospitals in the city and fortunately none of them were seriously wounded. They are all expected to recover quickly.

The FBI has confirmed that the shooting was not terrorist-related. The incident was nothing more than a workplace dispute, but still caused a sense of panic in the city of New York, whose inhabiters have lived through all too familiar scenes in the past.

Police commissioner Ray Kelly identified the shooter as Jeffrey Johnson, aged 53. Johnson shot his 41-year-old former manager using a 45 caliber semiautomatic handgun. The shooter was a Hazan Imports employee for the last six years, designing women’s accessories and clothes and he had been fired from his job about a year ago as part of downsizing in the company. While the incident took place near the the Empire State Building, the landmark was not otherwise connected to the shooting.

New York City’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, one of America’s biggest gun law reform advocates, said that “soothing words are nice, but maybe it is time that the two people who want to be President of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it,” expressing his discontent for both President Obama and his republican rival Mitt Romney.

Image Courtesy of   chrisinphilly5448

The article Empire State Building Shooting: Third Gun Drama in a Row appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called on the New York Post to apologize for publishing a political cartoon that the Muslim civil rights group says “evokes anti-Semitic themes” through its depiction of hook-nosed terrorists objecting to the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) widespread campaign of spying on Muslims without warrants or evidence of wrongdoing.

View the cartoon:
http://tinyurl.com/7s6llpm

CAIR is also asking American Muslims and other people of conscience to contact the newspaper and to politely ask that they apologize for the offensive cartoon. E-Mail: letters@nypost.com, Copy to:info@cair.com

The cartoon by Sean Delonas was published Friday in the Post and shows the turban-wearing, hook-nosed terrorists preparing bombs and weapons in an apartment, with an NYPD vehicle in the street. One of the terrorists is depicted on the phone with The Associated Press news agency, and says: “Hello, AP Press?. . .I’d like to register a complaint against the N.Y.P.D. for spying on us.”

The cartoonist’s reference is to a series of Associated Press investigative articles exposing the NYPD’s spying on Muslim individuals, students, businesses, and religious institutions –- a campaign that has been condemned as unconstitutional by American Muslim and civil liberties groups.

Video: NJ Muslims Condemn NYPD Spying (CAIR)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2ioUX1-h5Y

CAIR-NJ: Muslims Denounce ‘Complete Betrayal’ of NYPD Surveillance
http://tinyurl.com/6msj2z3

NYPD Spying Program Aimed at Muslims
http://tinyurl.com/6sf8myz

“This offensive and inaccurate political cartoon evokes anti-Semitic themes that would be recognized by any historian of pre-war Nazi Germany,” said Zead Ramadan, board president of CAIR’s New York chapter. “The cartoon is not only offensive in its portrayal of a religious minority; it is also inaccurate in its depiction of those targeted by the NYPD spy campaign in that there is no evidence that those monitored were suspected of wrongdoing of any kind.”

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

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Image Courtesy of     http://www.flickr.com/photos/icpja2/

The article CAIR Calls on the NY Post to Apologize for Offensive Political Muslim Cartoon appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.