Sawt Falasteen - Five dead after New York Midtown shooting: US media

"Four people, including a New York Police Department officer, were killed in today's shooting in Midtown Manhattan," a law enforcement source told broadcaster CNN, adding that the suspected gunman died from what is believed to be a "self-inflicted injury."

Mayor Eric Adams said on X an officer had been "struck down" and expressed his "deepest sympathies" to the family of the officer, although a department spokeswoman said she could neither confirm nor deny an officer had been killed.

Police said the scene, around Park Avenue and East 51st Street, had been "contained and the lone shooter is dead," without providing details about the identity of the suspect.

"At this time, the scene has been contained and the lone shooter has been neutralized," police commissioner Jessica Tisch wrote on X.

Office worker Shad Sakib told AFP that he was packing his things to leave work when a public address announcement warned him and his colleagues to shelter in place.

"Everyone was confused with like, 'wait, what's going on?' And then someone finally realized that it's online, that someone walked in with a machine gun," said the witness who wore a grey suit jacket.

"He walked right into a building right next door. We saw the photo of him walking through the same area that I walked through to get lunch here.

"You would think it won't happen to you, and then it does."

- 'Floor by floor' -

Another witness, a woman who declined to give her name as she left the vicinity of the shooting, told AFP "I was in the building. He went floor by floor."

Witnesses told AFP the incident happened in an office block that is home to the Blackstone investment company.

Police officers deployed a drone near Park Avenue at the height of the evening rush-hour as dozens of officers swarmed the area, some carrying long guns and others wearing ballistic vests.

A number of ambulances had gathered in the vicinity and several helicopters hovered above the scene.

Police repeatedly pushed back journalists and members of the public who gathered to see what was happening in the normally calm but busy area of Midtown Manhattan.

The area is home to several five-star business hotels, as well as a number of corporate headquarters, including Colgate Palmolive and auditor KPMG.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she has been briefed on the shooting.

X.AbuJaber--SF-PST