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Binghamton officials defend response to massacre
JOHN KEKIS? - The Associated Press
Issue date: 4/6/09 Section: News
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The shooting at the American Civic Association stopped shortly after the first 911 calls came in at 10:30 a.m., but police didn't enter the building until nearly 45 minutes later.
Survivors reported huddling for hours in a basement, not knowing whether they were still in danger after the gunman, 41-year-old Jiverly Wong, killed 13 people Friday.
Medical examiners who conducted autopsies on the victims reported that their injuries were so severe, they would not have survived, said Broome County District Attorney Gerald F. Mollen.
"Nobody could have been saved if the police walked in the door that first minute," he said.
The prosecutor's comments came at a news conference Sunday as officials prepared to release a list of names and home countries of the victims.
Four Chinese were among those killed, and a Chinese student was also shot in the arm and leg but survived, officials said. The other victims came from Haiti, Pakistan, the Philippines, Iraq, Brazil, Vietnam and the United States.
The first 911 calls came in at 10:30 a.m., Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said at a news conference. The callers spoke broken English, and it took dispatchers two minutes to sort out what was happening, he said.
The first patrol cars arrived at 10:33 a.m.
Officers were on the scene five minutes before a wounded receptionist called police to report a gunman in the building, Zikuski said. Police had earlier said it was that call that brought them to the immigration center.
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