Two Confirmed dead at New York federal building shooting

Two people died in a shooting incident that erupted Friday evening inside a federal building in lower Manhattan, authorities said.

 

A gunman approached the screening area of the building at 201 Varick Street around 5:05 p.m. and shot a security guard at close range with a handgun, said James O'Neill, chief of department of the New York City Police Department.

 

The gunman then walked down a hallway to an elevator bank and fatally shot himself in the head, O'Neill said during a news briefing near the scene.

 

The security guard, identified by O'Neill as Idrissa Camara, 53, was rushed by ambulance to the nearby Lenox Health Greenwich Village facility in cardiac arrest, the city fire department said. Doctors declared him dead on arrival, said Betty Olt, a spokeswoman for the free-standing emergency department. Officials said they did not know where Camara lived or his family situation.

 

O'Neill identified the alleged shooter as Kevin Downing, 68, a veteran and former employee with the Bureau of Labor Statistics who lived in Fort Lee, N.J., a community just on the other side of the George Washington Bridge that connects Manhattan and New Jersey. Officials said they do not know if Downing ever worked at the office in the Varick Street building or at some other location.

 

There was no immediate confirmation on a potential motive for the shooting, he said.

 

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told reporters outside of the building Friday night that he hoped to have the chance to express condolences to Camara's family. He visited with federal employees inside the building to offer support, he said.