New York:
A man was shot and critically injured by police immediately after he opened fire close to crowds who had gathered to watch carol-singing outdoors a New York church on Sunday.
Witnesses reported no injuries. A spokeswoman for the New York Police Department stated officers returned fire immediately after the man began shooting.
“He’s critically injured and is in custody,” she told AFP.
An AFP journalist who witnessed the incident stated she saw the man firing shots from the actions of the Cathedral of St John the Divine in Manhattan as a handful of hundred persons began to disperse immediately after the outside choral concert when it completed about 4:00 pm (1600 GMT).
“I heard two or three booms that were really loud,” she stated. “I looked up and maybe ten meters away from me on the stairs there was a guy shooting.
“I saw the bursts of gunfire coming out of the gun and I just began to run away. I just ran for my life.”
Witness Martha Stolley said the man fired eight to ten shots before a police officer shot him.
“He was shooting without the need of aiming at anyone,” she told AFP, adding that the man was shouting “Shoot me, kill me.”
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