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[Susie924]

I'm hearing that the bridges and tunnels may be closed?
Paulie, are you hearing that?

One killed in NY City Hall shooting
Wednesday, July 23, 2003 Posted: 3:37 PM EDT (1937 GMT)



Two people are taken from City Hall on stretchers after a shooting.

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NEW YORK (CNN) -- One person was killed and another wounded in a shooting Wednesday at New York's City Hall, and the shooter remains at large, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

Councilman Joel Rivera said the gunman was talking with Councilman James Davis and then pulled out a handgun and shot him. The shooter had come in with one of Davis' staff members, Rivera said, which could indicate he did not have to go through standard security procedures.

Two people were carried out on stretchers. A Fire Department of New York spokesman said two were transported to NYU Hospital in Lower Manhattan. The hospital said it has two people from the scene, and both were receiving emergency treatment.

"This is an attack on democracy," said Bloomberg. "This is not terrorism -- it appears to be a random act."

Bloomberg was inside his office in the City Hall building when the shooting occurred, said his press secretary, Edward Skyler.

"We have a description of the shooter and that description is being used by the police at this moment -- they are searching City Hall and they are searching the neighborhood," Bloomberg said.

There are conflicting reports on whether the shooter was wounded.

Councilman Michael McMahon of Staten Island described the shooter as a man in his 40s wearing a cream-colored suit.

Several City Council members said they were in the chamber waiting for a session to begin when someone in the balcony fired multiple shots with a silver handgun -- and that a City Council member was hit and fell to the ground.

Then, the shooter appeared to be shot, and he fell down, City Council members said. It was not clear who shot him.

"All pandemonium broke out," McMahon said.

Councilwoman Gale Brewer described a scene of panic.

"We dove under our desks and we were piled on top of each other because so many of us had never experienced something like this," she said. "Soon, everyone was running down the stairs to get out of the building."

"We were running really fast. People were tripping, they were falling -- they were even falling over the line in front of the guard rail. And then we ran down into the rotunda of the City Hall and then we were told by the police to run even further. People were jumping over the fence that is in City Hall parking lot to get out into the street," she said.