A New York mall was on lockdown Wednesday after a fired contractor went on a shooting rampage at his old office nearby, killing a former co-worker and sending his boss to the hospital in critical condition.
Police are still on the hunt for Sang Ho Kim, 63, who they claim walked into the offices of Savenergy — an energy-efficient light fixture company in East Garden City, N.Y., about 30 miles from New York City — around 10 a.m. Wednesday and started shooting.
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"The company was occupied by about four employees at the time,"
Police Chief Steven Skrynecki told the New York Post. "He entered one room where the owner/CEO and an employee were. He opened fire immediately on those two individuals."
The CEO was rushed to Nassau University Medical Center in critical condition. The employee who was killed was not identified.
Kim, described as an Asian man around 6-foot-2, reportedly fled the scene in a white Honda Pilot with a New York license plate number FMA3648, police said. He was last seen wearing a red shirt and brown suit jacket.
"The motive here appears to be work related," Skrynecki said. "There's some disgruntlement between him and the company that he was attacking."
The shooting sent the Garden City School District and the Roosevelt Field Mall into lockdown.
Many shoppers and store employees at the mall were nervous when they saw police swarm the area.
"We were in line, and suddenly someone said the store is being closed and we had to leave," Anna Stellar, a German tourist who was shopping at the time, told the Post. "Then we heard there was a shooter somewhere outside. Of course, the first thing I thought of was Kenya."
At least 62 people were killed this week when militants from the al-Qaida-linked and Somalia-based group al-Shabab stormed a Kenya mall, shooting bystanders and hurling grenades.
"I was on my lunch break and I see all the police and helicopters at the mall, and right away I thought this was connected with Kenya," said a mall employee who identified himself as John.
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