Sawt Falasteen - Five dead including gunman in New York office shooting spree

A fifth victim was also in critical condition after being shot, while the gunman apparently took his own life, Mayor Eric Adams told a late-night briefing at a hospital near the scene of the shooting.

The gunman was caught on camera exiting a black BMW carrying an M-4 rifle, then entering the building, immediately opening fire on a police officer before "spraying the lobby" with bullets, police commissioner Jessica Tisch told the press conference.

He then took an elevator to the 33rd floor, of Rudin Management which owns the building, where the man continued his spree before apparently shooting himself. He was later discovered by officers next to his weapon.

The office tower block at 345 Park Avenue is also home to hedge fund giant Blackstone, auditor KPMG and the National Football League.

Tisch told the briefing that the suspect was believed to have acted alone but inquiries were ongoing, with the FBI assisting in the investigation.

She identified the shooter as Shane Tamura of Las Vegas and said a revolver, ammunition and magazines were found in his vehicle along with medication bearing his name.

The man had a history of mental health issues according to Las Vegas law enforcement -- but did appear to possess a valid firearms permit for Nevada, Tisch said.

He drove cross-country from the southwestern state in recent days and arrived in New York on Monday, she said.

The incident began around 6:00 pm (2200 GMT) when reports of gunfire prompted hundreds of police to swarm a busy office district on the storied Park Avenue, an area popular with tourists and visiting businesspeople.

A worker from a nearby office building wept as she left the area after a local lockdown was lifted, while another described a gunman going floor to floor as staff prepared to leave for the day.

Adams said the fallen police officer, an immigrant from Bangladesh who was 36 years old, was among the dead.

Two other males and a female died, and another man remained in a critical condition, officials said without giving any preliminary motive for the shootings.

- Rush hour -

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."

Mass shootings are common in the United States, where a constitutional right to bear arms outweighs demands for stricter rules.

There have been 254 mass shootings in the United States this year including Monday's incident in New York, according to the Gun Violence Archive -- which defines a mass shooting as four or more people shot.

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.

The area is home to several five-star business hotels, as well as a number of corporate headquarters. The United Nations headquarters is nearby.

The frontrunner in the race for mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote on X that he was "heartbroken to learn of the horrific shooting in midtown and I am holding the victims, their families, and the NYPD officer... in my thoughts."

M.AlAhmad--SF-PST