Binghamton shooting

Jiverly Antares Wong (born Linh Phat Vuong, Vương Phật Linh; December 8, 1967 – April 3, 2009), a resident of Johnson City, New York, was identified as the perpetrator.

Wong was born into an ethnic Chinese (Chinese Nùng) family in South Vietnam.

He and his parents, Henry Voong and Mui Thong, immigrated to New York in the late 1980s; he moved to California some time later.

In 1992, Wong was arrested there and convicted of a misdemeanor charge of fraud for forgery.

Wong became a naturalized American citizen in November 1995; the following year, he registered a gun in Broome County, New York.

He returned to the U.S., taking up residence in Inglewood, California, in December 1999.

In California, Wong registered another gun.

While living there, Wong married and later divorced Xiu Ping Jiang.

The couple had no children.

Wong worked for almost seven years as a delivery man for Kikka Sushi, a catering company located in Los Angeles.

Wong failed to show up to work one day in July 2007, having moved to Binghamton, New York, that month, near his parents.

On April 3, 2009, a mass shooting occurred at the American Civic Association immigration center in Binghamton, New York.

At approximately 10:30 a.m. EDT, Jiverly Antares Wong (also known as Jiverly Voong), a 41-year-old naturalized American citizen from Vietnam, entered the facility and killed thirteen people and wounded four others before committing suicide.

It is the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in the state of New York.

At about 10:30 a.m. EDT, Jiverly Wong barricaded the rear door of the Binghamton American Civic Association building with a vehicle registered in his father's name.

He was described as wearing a bullet-proof vest, a bright green nylon jacket, and dark-rimmed glasses.

Wong entered through the front door, firing a number of bullets at people in his path.

At 10:30 am, Broome County Communications received several 911 calls, and the first police were dispatched to the scene.

Two of the Civic Association's receptionists were among the first victims shot.

While one of the receptionists was reported to have been shot through the head and killed, the second, shot in the stomach, feigned death and, when the gunman moved on, took cover under a desk and called 911.

The receptionist's call was taken by 911 staff at 10:38 am.

The wounded receptionist, 61-year-old Shirley DeLucia, remained on the line for 39 minutes, despite her gunshot wound, and relayed information until she was rescued.

She later recounted that the gunman had opened fire without saying anything.

The gunman entered a classroom just off the main reception areas, where an ESL class was being given to students.

Out of the 16 people in the room, Wong hit 13 of them, including the professor.

He then took dozens of other students hostage.

Police arrived within minutes of the 911 calls.

Hearing the alarms, Wong committed suicide by shooting himself at 10:33 am, three minutes after he first opened fire.

In all, Wong fired 99 rounds: 88 from a 9mm Beretta and 11 from a .45-caliber Beretta.

Police remained at the perimeter of the property, having locked down nearby Binghamton High School and a number of streets in the area.

At one point, not knowing if the gunman was alive or dead, police summoned Broome Community College Assistant Professor Tuong Hung Nguyen, who is fluent in Vietnamese, to help communicate with Wong in the event of contact.

SWAT members entered the Civic Center building and began clearing it at 11:13 am—43 minutes after the first call to the police at 10:30 am, and 40 minutes after patrol officers first arrived on the scene at 10:33 am.

At the time of their entry, they had not yet confirmed that Wong had committed suicide, and they proceeded with caution.

At approximately 12:00 pm, ten people left the building, with another ten following approximately forty minutes later.

Some of the hostages had escaped to a basement, while more than a dozen remained hidden in a closet.

Thanh Huynh, a high school teacher of Vietnamese background, was asked to interpret so the Vietnamese survivors could be interviewed by the police.

Wong was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, in the first-floor classroom with his victims.

Items found on Wong's body included a hunting knife in the waistband of his pants; a bag of ammunition which was tied around his neck; and two semi-automatic pistols (a .45-caliber Beretta Px4 Storm and a 9mm Beretta 92FS Vertec Inox matching the serial numbers on his New York State pistol license).

Also found at the scene were a number of loaded magazines, at least two empty magazines with a 30-round capacity each, and a firearm laser sight.

By 2:33 pm, SWAT had completed the clearing of the building, and all those inside had been evacuated.