Empire State Shooting

Empire State Shooting, Ten people were shot — and two of them, including the gunman responsible for the attack, killed — in a shooting near the Empire State Building on Friday morning, law enforcement officials said. The NYPD said police fatally shot the gunman. The Associated Press reported, citing two law enforcement officials in New York City, said the gunman was a recently fired store worker who shot a former colleague to death and then randomly opened fired on others.

The officials say eight other people were struck by bullets but those injuries are not believed to be life threatening.

A law enforcement source told Newsday a preliminary investigation has found “no nexis to terrorism” and said an FBI team is on the scene “out of an abundance of caution.”

NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said details of the shooting are still emerging. He initially categorized the shooting as a commercial robbery. The source told Newsday the shooting was being investigated as a possible workplace dispute.

An FDNY spokeswoman said two people were confirmed dead at the scene, while six victims were transported to Bellevue Hospital Center and two were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill-Cornell Medical Center. The conditions of the victims were not immediately known.

A body covered by a white sheet was on the sidewalk on 5th Avenue near 34th Street — the area where the shooting occurred.

The NYPD said it is not clear whether the shootings took place inside a building or outside — or both. The extent of the injuries was not clear.

William Missault, a police officer visiting from Belgium with his wife and teenage son, was in the lobby of the Empire State Building heading to the observatory at about 9 a.m.

“We had just entered the building when we suddenly heard four or five loud shots and then we saw a woman come running in with a child,” Missault said. “I thought it was fireworks at first, but once I went outside and looked up and saw three helicopters I knew it was something serious. My wife said it was just like in a movie.”

Sakranli Irem, a Turkish student said: “I heard boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Five shots, I think. I saw people running.”

Witness Rebecca Fox, who works for a design company across the street from the scene of the shooting, said she was “scared and shocked” as the incident unfolded about 9 a.m. while she was in a nearby coffee shop.

“The cops were running down the street. I thought: Could this be another 9/11? Could this really be happening?” Fox said.

She said police and ambulance crews arrived on the scene quickly.

Traffic was being diverted away from the area.

The corner of 34th Street and 5th Avenue was cordoned off with police tape as crowds of pedestrians gathered on the street.

Bus and subway service was curtailed on the Lexington Avenue line. MTA buses were lined up facing west on 34th as a slew of uniformed cops and detectives swarmed the area.