Chinese Deputy Consul General in New York Shi Yong is interviewed in Binghamton, the United States, on April 4, 2009. Four Chinese nationals were among the people killed Friday in a shooting spree by a lone gunman at an immigrant services center in downtown Binghamton, Shi Yong said here Saturday. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) Photo Gallery>>>

    BINGHAMTON, United States, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Four Chinese nationals were among the people killed Friday in a shooting spree by a lone gunman at an immigrant services centre in downtown Binghamton, New York, a Chinese diplomat said Saturday.

    Deputy Consul General Shi Yong said Binghamton police notified the Chinese Consulate-General in New York that four Chinese nationals were among those killed in Friday's shooting. Their identities were being established and could be released as early as Sunday.

    Shi said he was already in contact with some of the victims' families and upon their requests has already communicated with relevant departments back in China so as to facilitate visits to the United States or help them attend to other relevant issues.

    The consul general said he would continue to meet with the families on further arrangements on Sunday.

The American Civic Association is cordoned off in Binghamton, New York, the United States, April 4, 2009. Chinese are among the dead in Binghamton Shooting, Chinese consulate cities police sources. (Xinhua/Shen Hong) Photo Gallery>>>

    Chinese consuls have already visited an exchange student from China who was among the wounded, he said, adding the consuls also paid visits to the school where the student studied, and an insurance company so as to ensure better treatment of his condition and facilitate visits by the student's families.

    The student, who sustained two gunshot wounds, one on his arm and the other on his leg, is in stable condition following surgeryat a local hospital.

    Binghamton police chief Joseph Zikuski identified the shooter as Jiverly Wong, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Vietnamese descent.

    Thirteen people were killed and four others wounded in the shooting spree. Authorities are still trying to establish the motive behind his attack, but Zikuski said the gunman had been a student at the American Civic Association and was very upset aboutbeing ridiculed for his poor English.

    "Apparently people were making fun of him ... He felt that he'dbeen degraded from his inability to speak English," he said.

    Wong, who was unmarried, was recently laid off from a Shop-Vac assembly plant.

    Zikuski said Wong arrived at the crime scene in body armour andcarrying a large amount of ammunition. Two shotguns licensed to him were recovered inside the one-story building of the American Civic Association, which helps immigrants and refugees.

    Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan described the shooting as "a tragedy that affects many different people from many different countries and their families and friends."

    There have been inquires from nine different countries and two different consulates, Ryan told a press conference.

    The United States, which leads the world in private gun ownership, sees about 30,000 people get killed every year due to gun-related violence.

Police say no terrorism involved in Binghamton shooting 

    BINGHAMTON, the United States, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Police Chief Joseph Zikuski of Binghamton said here Saturday that there was "no indication whatsoever" of terrorism involved in the shooting Friday morning that left 14 people dead in the city.

    "As far as we know, there is absolutely no indication whatsoever that there is any type of terrorist activity in any way involved in this," Zikuski told a press conference. Full story

U.S. Officials identify Binghamton shooter, indicate possible motives

    BINGHAMTON, the United States, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The shooter who killed 13 people before taking his own life in an immigrant services Centre in New York's Binghamton has been identified as a naturalized U.S. citizen of a Vietnamese descent, the authorities said Saturday.

    Jiverly Wong, who was believed to be in his early 40s and lived just outside the nearby Johnson city, was recently frustrated over a job loss and disrespect from people who laughed at his poor English skills, providing clues to the motive of the killings, they said. Full story

Police chief: 14 dead, four critically wounded in Binghamton, NY massacre

The American Civic Center is sealed off by police in Binghampton, New York, April 3, 2009. (Xinhua/Yu Jun) Photo Gallery>>>

    NEW YORK, April 3 (Xinhua) -- A lone gunman armed with two handguns on Friday killed 14 people and critically wounded four more in a rampage through an immigration services center in the upstate town of Binghamton, in the U.S. state of New York, police said.

    Police chief Joseph Zikuski told reporters at a late afternoon news conference 37 other people in the single story building escaped harm, many of them hiding in a barricaded boiler room of the American Civic Association on Front Street and "most of them could not speak English." Full story