Board meeting turns into multiple murder-suicide at Philadelphia office park wrote:By Dan Robrish
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A business meeting turned deadly when a gunman apparently angry over money killed three men and critically injured a fourth before exchanging gunfire with police and then killing himself, police said.
No police officers were hurt in Monday night's exchange of gunfire at an office park, city police Deputy Commissioner Richard Ross said. Police, who entered a conference room about 90 metres from the gunfight and found the bodies, described the scene as "utter chaos," he said.
"Two of them are on the floor, one of them in a chair, all of whom sustained gunshot wounds to various parts of the body," Ross said.
Two other men who were not shot had been bound with duct tape. One of those men told officers that the gunman had shot himself, Ross said.
"The officer mentioned to me that he had to take a knife out to cut this person loose," Ross said.
Police would not release the names of those involved early Tuesday morning, but Ross said Monday night that all appeared to be in their 30s or 40s.
Police were not immediately sure what the name of the business was but it was believed to be an investment firm, Ross said.
The gunman's role in the company was not immediately clear, but Ross said police believed he might have been an investor.
The shootings took place in the Philadelphia Naval Business Center, an office park that is part of the old Philadelphia Navy Yard.
It was one of the Navy's busiest shipbuilders during Second World War but closed in 1995. Two years later, a private company, Kvaerner, resumed commercial shipbuilding in a portion of the shipyard, which is now known as Aker Shipyard. Other areas of the Navy facility have been converted to business and office use.
Gunman kills five people in Utah shopping mall before being killed by police wrote:By Jennifer Dobner
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A historic mall's winding hallways became a shooting gallery for a gunman in a trench coat who fired a shotgun randomly at customers, slaying five before being killed by police, authorities and witnesses said.
For hours after Monday evening's rampage at the Trolley Square shopping mall, police searched stores for scared, shocked shoppers and employees who were hunkered down awaiting a safe escort.
Marie Smith, 23, a Bath & Body Works manager, saw the gunman through the store window. She watched as he raised his gun and fired at a young woman approaching him from behind.
"His expression stayed totally calm. He didn't seem upset, or like he was on a rampage," said Smith, who crawled to safety in an employee restroom to hide with others. She said the gunman looked like "an average Joe."
Authorities said they were unclear about a possible motive. Police did not immediately identify the gunman and declined to say how he died.
At least four people were hospitalized, three in critical condition and one in serious condition. Two of the critically injured were a 16-year-old man and a 50-year-old man, hospital spokesmen said.
Matt Lund was visiting his wife, Barbara, manager of the Secret Garden children's clothing store, when he heard the first shots. The couple and three others hid in a storage room for about 40 minutes, isolated but still able to hear the violence.
"We heard them say, 'Police! Drop your weapon!' Then we heard shotgun fire. Then there was a barrage of gunfire," said Lund, 44. "It was hard to believe."
They say officers treated everyone like suspects - ordering those hiding in storerooms, bathrooms or under stairwells, to lie on the floor with their hands on their heads until police were sure no one posed a threat.
On the way out, Lund said, he saw a woman's body face-down at the entrance to Pottery Barn Kids and a man's body on the floor in the mall's east-west corridor. "There were a lot of blown out store windows and shot gun shell casings all over the floor," Lund said. "It was quite surreal."
The victims were found throughout the 22,000-square-metre shopping mall.
Outside, streets were blocked as police swarmed the four-block scene. Dozens of people lingered on the sidewalk, many wrapped in blankets, as they talked about what they had seen inside.
The two-storey mall, southeast of downtown, is a refurbished trolley barn built in 1908, with a series of winding hallways, brick floors, wrought-iron balconies and about 80 stores, including high-end retailers such as Williams-Sonoma and restaurants such as the Hard Rock Cafe.
Antique store owner Barrett Dodds, 29, said he saw a man in a trench coat exchanging gunfire with a police officer outside a card store. The gunman, he said, was backed into a children's clothing store.
"I saw the shooter go down," said Dodds, who watched from the second floor.
An off-duty officer from Ogden was in the mall and involved in the final exchange, said Ogden police Sgt. Blaine Clifford, who declined to release the officer's name. The officer was not injured, Clifford said.
Barb McKeown, 60, of Washington, D.C., was in another antique shop when two frantic women ran in and reported gunshots.
"Then we heard shot after shot after shot - loud, loud, loud," said McKeown, saying she heard about 20. She and three other people hid under a staircase until it was safe to leave.
