Taliban leader claimed responsibility for massacre in NY.

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US police hunt clues after immigrant slays 14

52 minutes ago

BINGHAMTON, New York (AFP) - Police were piecing together Saturday why a jobless

US immigrant snapped, launching a murderous rampage killing 13 people and

himself in the center where he had been taught English.

The gunman at the heart of the tragedy in the quiet, small New York town of

Binghamton was identified as Jiverly Wong, in his early 40s, reportedly of

Vietnamese origin.

Early Friday Wong blocked the back doors of the American Civic Association (ACA)

with his car and then burst into the front of the center in a hail of gunfire.

He took dozens hostage in the four-hour spree and killed 13 people, before

turning the gun on himself. Police found two handguns and a satchel of

ammunition.

The alarm was raised by the receptionist, who was shot in the stomach and played

dead, until she managed to crawl to a hiding spot, local police chief ph

Zikuski said. She is now being treated in hospital.

Dozens more people spent four hours cowering in the center's basement, waiting

to be told by police that they were safe to leave. One person injured in the

rampage was still fighting for their life in hospital on Saturday.

It was the second mass shooting in less than a week in the United States, as the

economic downtown claims more jobs and blights more lives.

" We understand that the gentleman had lost employment. That he was no stranger

to the American Civic Association. He was probably taking some class there, " the

town's mayor told CNN Saturday.

The news channel also reported that several years ago Wong had been employed at

a hi-tech firm, Endicott Interconnect, which produces computer chips for medical

equipment and where Wong had trained his co-workers.

But he was most recently working in a shop which used industrial vacuum cleaners

to clean industrial equipment, the television network said.

" We talked to some family members and he had recently lost a job, spoke very

little English and said people were disrespecting him and looking down upon him,

and he wasn't happy with his life, " Zikuski told CNN.

Saturday morning the civic center was still under tight security as police also

searched the home Wong shared with his mother in City near Binghamton.

Neighbor , 50, told AFP the family had kept to themselves.

" I was totally surprised, they were so quiet that I didn't even know anybody

there. "

But he acknowledged the economic crisis was hitting hard here. " In this area it

does happen that people lose their job. It is a turn over area, mainly in

technology. "

Many of those in the center in Binghamton, 135 miles (215 kilometers) northwest

of New York City, were apparently of Vietnamese origin and did not speak good

English. The center helps immigrants prepare for citizenship tests.

New York state Governor Paterson said Friday victims were there to pursue

" the American dream. "

" There still is an American dream and all of us who are Americans will try to

heal this very, very deep wound in the city of Binghamton, " he said.

But in Pakistan, a militant Taliban leader wanted by the government claimed

responsibility for the massacre.

" Whatever happened in America yesterday, was done by our men, " Baitullah Mehsud

told reporters by telephone, a claim dismissed by Pakistani security officials

as rubbish. US authorities also said they had found no link to the Taliban.

President Barack Obama, on a visit to France, said he was " shocked and deeply

saddened to learn about the act of senseless violence. "

Friday's carnage is the latest incident to rock small-town America, where many

fiercely defend the legal right to bear firearms, but which is also being hit by

the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

On Sunday, a heavily-armed man burst into a North Carolina nursing home, where

his estranged wife worked, killing eight people before being shot and wounded by

a policeman.

Paterson expressed his " profound outrage " at Friday's killings, and the series

of deadly attacks that preceded them.

" When are we going to be able to curb the kind of violence so rampant that we

can't even keep track of the incidents? " he said.

Friday's incident also comes days before the second anniversary of a massacre at

Virginia Tech -- the deadliest school shooting in US history in which 32

students and professors were shot dead by a student gunman -- and weeks before

the 10th anniversary of the Columbine, Colorado school shooting.