Fired worker kills boss at Empire State Building, wounds 9 others before cop shoots him

A fired worker stalked his boss down a Midtown street, shot him dead and then turned his weapon on police officers — and in the ensuing gun battle he was killed and nine pedestrians were struck, some by cop bullets, Mayor Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said today.
The 9 a.m. mayhem sent commuters and tourists in a panicked scramble from the jam-packed intersection of 34th Street and Fifth Avenue.
Bloomberg identified the shooter as Jeffrey Johnson, 53, who had been fired a year ago from Hazan Imports at 10 W. 33rd Street, around the corner from the scene.
The body of the gunman's victim, Steve Ercolino, seen on the sidewalk before police arrived at the scene.
Johnson opened fire with a .45-caliber pistol on the Fifth Avenue side of the building.
He returned there yesterday with the gun and stalked his victim, a former co-worker identified as 41-year-old Steve Ercolino.
After fatally shooting Ercolino in the head, he walked down 33rd Street with the gun concealed and was confronted by a pair of construction workers who gave chase, said Kelly.
At that point, cops on anti-terror patrol drew their weapons on Johnson and he opened fire.
sign up for an unlimited mobile data plan to avoid additional charges from your mobile service provider.
“The guy has his gun out and is trying to shoot police officers,” Bloomberg said.
The cops unleashed a torrent of shots, cutting down the suspect and possibly hitting some of the nine innocent bystanders who were caught in the mayhem.
One of the victims, a woman from Woodlawn, Bronx, in her 20s, was on her way to Dunkin Donuts for her morning coffee when she heard the gunfire and realized she’d been shot.
"She saw blood and said 'Who got shot?' and then she looked down and it was her. She never saw the gunman,” said her pal, Chris Collins, a 44-year-old lab tech at NYU.
A victim is aided by a bystander after a shooting at the Empire State Building today.
“I said, ‘Erica, is that you?' She was lying on the floor bleeding. She said, ‘I don’t want to die, I hope I don’t die. I don’t want to lose my leg.’
“In the ambulance we were laughing about it on the way to the hospital. There was another man in the ambulance - he got shot in the butt.”
The victims were taken to New York and Bellevue Hospitals.
“This is the last thing you are expecting to see walking to work – someone shot dead in broad daylight in Midtown,” said Sid Dinsay, 38, who works in a PR firm on Fifth Avenue.
“I am shocked – something like this is enough to rattle your nerves. My nerves are rattled right now.”
A person was shot today outside the Empire State Building.
Dinsay said he heard noise on 33rd street and saw construction workers running on scaffolding of Empire State Building, looking down onto the street. He thought a piece of equipment had fallen.
“I saw a guy lying there covered in blood,” he said. “He was in his late 30s. People around him were crying, a police scooter was whizzing by. It was chaos.”
Austrian visitor Raphael Riegler, 19, said he heard the shots while lining up for tour boat tickets.
“Behind me the shooting started. In the middle of the street and a man in a blue jacket fell down,” he said, referring to a tour bus operator.
“Another man was shot in the foot. He tried to run run run, he fell at the bus stop.
“We ran for cover into a store. Police shot the aggressor, I hope he is dead.

@loritosan via Twitter
Today at the Empire State Building after four people were shot.
“I’ve never seen anything like that.”
The FBI is assisting in the investigation, which has caused a traffic nightmare in Midtown that has effectively shut down all of the streets around the scene.
Eeerily, just minutes before the mayhem, Mayor Bloomberg was warning about the dangers of “too many guns on the streets” on his weekly radio show.
“The argument guns don’t kill people, people kill people is one of the most disingenuous things you can say,” he said shortly before 9 a.m. while discussing tougher guns laws being proposed in Albany.
“It does take a person to pull the trigger, but if they didn’t have the gun... We are the only developed country in the world with this problem.”
This is not the first time violence has taken place at the landmark.
In 1997, a gunman opened fire on the 86th floor, killing one tourist and wounding six others before fatally shooting himself

Angelina Jolie’s daughter Vivienne cast in ‘Maleficent’

Another Jolie-Pitt kid is making an entrance into the movie business.

After Shiloh’s appearance as a baby in 2008′s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which starred dad Brad Pitt, little Vivienne Jolie-Pitt, 4, will join mom Angelina in “Maleficent.”


The upcoming Disney project is a spin on the classic “Sleeping Beauty” fairy tale, which tells the story of Princess Aurora and the evil Maleficent.

With the new, live-action version, the studio will explore Maleficent’s background and the reason she cursed Aurora, with Angelina as the titular villain.

Vivienne, who’s already been in the spotlight with twin brother Knox thanks to a People magazine cover upon their arrival in ’08, has been cast as the child version of Princess Aurora. (Elle Fanning, 14, will presumably portray the older version.)

Angelina and Vivienne’s “Maleficent” will arrive in theaters March 14, 2014.

EXCLUSIVE: Ken Shamrock -- Accused of Battering Woman ... Thought She Was a Man

UFC hall-of-famer Ken Shamrock -- one of the greatest MMA fighters ever -- has been accused of battering a woman at a California mall ... but Ken claims it was an honest mistake ... 'cause he thought she was a he. Shamrock -- whose nickname is "The World's Most Dangerous Man" -- was hangin' out at a mall in Modesto, CA last month when he saw two women fighting each other in front of the Coach store ... surrounded by a group of lookie loos filming the whole thing. We're told Shamrock dove into the scrap and tried to pry the women apart ... when one of the bystanders, a HEAVYSET bystander, jumped on his back and tried to rip Ken out of the pile. Shamrock's rep tells TMZ ... he threw the person off of his back and followed up with a move that knocked the attacker to the ground. After the person was incapacitated, the crowd shouted at Ken, "You just hit a girl." Ken took a closer look and realized the attacker was in fact a female .. so he immediately backed off. An officer arrived to the scene and took a battery report against Shamrock, noting the only injury was a slight abrasion to the woman's knee. The report was sent to the District Attorney's Office. But law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Shamrock probably won't be prosecuted because officials don't feel the woman he knocked to the ground is a "victim." In fact, they believe Ken was acting in self-defense. Shamrock's rep notes, "Outside the ring, Ken is not a violent man ... and was only trying to do the right thing.

Computervillage phone accessories Dealer to Drugs: Seller Arrested With N27 Million Worth of Drugs at Lagos Airport

A phone accessories seller in Ikeja; Mr. Afunaya Thaddeus Izunna, has been apprehended by the Lagos Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, over the weekend for allegedly smuggling 8.5kg of methamphetamine, worth about N27 million, carefully hidden inside metal pipes, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

When will they ever learn?

BEEF: Lil Wayne 'Just Laughed' At Chris Brown, Drake After Club Brawl

Nicki Minaj recently described her relationship with Lil Wayne by painting the picture of a once-strict father figure who now takes a very casual approach to parenting. It seems like Weezy also extends that parenting style to Drake.
The Toronto rapper was allegedly involved in a nightclub brawl with Chris Brown and his entourage back in June, and while the lawsuits continue to pour in, Wayne admits that he simply laughed at the whole thing. During an appearance in Las Vegas to debut his Supra sneaker line this week, the New Orleans native told MTV News that the incident was humorous to him.
"Honestly, I laughed at them," he said, not able to contain his laughter, even in that moment. "I can't front, I just laughed at them... like, it's funny to me. I thank God I ain't going through it though, I've already been through too much."
In the past week alone Drake and Chris Brown have been hit with two lawsuits as a result of the bottle-throwing brawl that night. The club owners filed a suit against the two artists alleging that they "ordered security personnel, bodyguards, friends and entourage to join the fight, which erupted into a violent brawl on a massive scale." Just a few days later, a NYC-based male model added another suit, claiming that he suffered "severe personal injuries" including a severed tendon on his right hand, thanks to the flying chards of glass.
After bringing both Drake and Wayne to perform with her in New York last week, Nicki Minaj told MTV News that she missed being lectured by her YMCMB boss. "It's like having a strict parent and when you no longer have it [you] kinda want that," she said. "I told him, 'I miss when you would lecture me and tell me to keep on my grind and do this do and do that — where's the love?' "
Wayne, always ready with the right words, responded that both she and Drake had already proven themselves. "He's just sitting back watching, and seeing the fruits of his labor, and that's what he said."

Nigerian Policemen beat Baba Fryo

Friday Igwe aka Baba Fryo, has threatened to sue the Nigeria Police Force after sustaining injuries from police brutalityThe musician, who spoke from his hospital bed, said the incident happened around Iyana Ishasi, a suburb of Lagos some days ago.

According to him, he saw the law enforcement agents manhandling two ladies and he decided to wade in. Fryo said the young ladies had refused to follow two of the policemen to an unknown destination. After this, the man went to get more of their colleagues, who resorted into force and pounced on the girls.

Fryo said he heard the commotion from his friend’s hotel room and he went to the scene to intervene. 
He stated that he tried to plead with the seven policemen on behalf of the girls to stop the beating, but instead, one of them turned to him and slapped him. Four others joined in beating him, leaving him with fractures. 
He said when he reported the matter to the DPO of a nearby police station, all he was sympathise with him. Fryo said he was taken aback when no mention was made of who would bear the cost of his treatment

Facebook murder: ‘I was a victim of Cynthia’s killers’

A model, yesterday, showed up at the headquarters of Lagos State Police Command in Ikeja, claiming she was a victim of the two undergraduates, who confessed to have killed Cynthia, the only daughter of Gen. Frank Osokogu(rtd), in a hotel located in Lake View Estate in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos.

The lady, whose identity could not be ascertained, arrived the Police Command at noon, demanding to speak only with the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umar Manko.

She was directed to the CP’s waiting room before being ushered to the CP’s office, where she described herself as a model.

She reportedly told the CP that she was at the Command in respect of the suspects. She said the two undergraduates, Nwabufo Okwumo, and his cousin, Odera Ezekiel, were the same persons that dispossessed her of her belongings in a hotel in Festac.

However, Vanguard could not get a detailed account of her ordeal in the hands of the suspects, as the CP was said to have immediately directed her to the Area E Commander, Mr. Dan Okoro, who led the team of investigators that uncovered the suspects’ activities.

When contacted, the Command’s boss confirmed the visit, explaining that he directed her to the Commander so that she could physically identify the suspects. He called on other females, who had fallen victims to show up.

He said: “Other victims are advised to show up so that if there is any need to expand our investigation, we will do so.”

Meanwhile, when Vanguard, yesterday, visited hotel in Lake View Estate, where the post-graduate student of Nassarawa State University met her sudden end, no one could offer explanation.

Rather, a private security guard claimed that none of the managers was around, and referred the reporter to the Police.

LL Cool J takes down burglar in his LA home; robber hospitalized with broken nose, jaw: report

Well, Mama did say to knock you out.

LL Cool J put his “NCIS: Los Angeles” training to good use against a burglar in his L.A. home early Wednesday morning.

The 42-year-old rapper turned TV military cop left the would be robber with a broken nose and jaw in what police sources described to the LA Times as a"knock-down, drag-out" fight and detained him for police.

Law enforcement sources told the gossip site TMZ that LL, aka James Todd Smith, was woken by a noise at about 2 a.m. and confronted the intruder downstairs.

The suspect, who is currently in the hospital and has yet to be named, is expected to be charged with burglary, cops said.

“LL Cool J, and his family, are safe and thank everyone for their thoughts and concern,” a spokesman said in a statement to the Daily News. “As a father, husband and citizen, he is committed to keeping his family safe and is cooperating with authorities on this private matter."

The Long Island-born star, who raps “LL Cool J is hard as hell, battle anybody, I don’t care who you tell” on his hit “Rock the Bells,” told Men’s Health in 2006 his workout regimen includes pullups, punching a heavy bag and running up hills with a weighted vest.

As impressive as the "Mama Said Knock Ya Out" rapper’s feat is, action star Dolph Lundgren managed to subdue a band of masked intruders who broke into his home in Spain in 2009 — without actually being there.

After taking Lundgren’s wife and children hostage, the home invaders realized whose house they were robbing after stumbling on a photograph. They dropped the jewelry they were pilfering, apologized and fled.

“It’s a good thing for them I wasn’t there,” the hulking Lundgren told The News a year later, “or else, ‘you’ll be sorry.’ ”

3 Docked Over 25 Year Old’s Kidneys Removal

Police in Bauchi State have arraigned three suspects before a Magistrate Court in the state for allegedly removing the two kidneys of 25-year-old Abubakar Buba.

Police Prosecutor, Sergeant Amos Ukpe, told the court that the suspects, Mijinyawa Abdulkadir, Abdullahi Yusuf and Mohammed Zangina were charged with conspiracy, attempt to commit culpable homicide, causing grievous hurt and impersonation, contrary to Section 132 of the Penal code.

Ukpe told the court: "One Buba Ahmadu reported to the Police that his son, Abubakar from Bununu in Tafawa Balewa Local Government Area, felt sick and went for medical treatment in a private clinic owned by one Mijinyawa Abdulkadir, who is a Nurse by profession.

"At the clinic, one Aminchi introduced himself as a doctor of the said hospital and recommended Abubakar for scanning at Almanzoor scanning centre. Aminchi, with Yusuf Zangina conducted an illegal appendix surgery, which led to the removal of the two kidneys of Abubakar, who is now critically ill at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.

"The patient, Abubakar, is currently undergoing dialysis treatment contrary to Sections 96, 132 and 229 of the Penal Code."

In his ruling, the trial magistrate, Mr. Isa Mohammed, granted the bail of the accused on the ground of his illness in the sum of N2 million with two sureties each in like sum.

He added that one of the sureties must be resident within the court's jurisdiction and own a landed property worth N10 million within the court's jurisdiction and verifiable.

3 Unexploded Bombs Discovered At Construction Site In Enugu State

It was yet another shocker when three unexploded bombs believed to be remnants of explosives used during the three-year of Nigerian civil war was discovered at a construction site in Enugu by labourers digging a foundation.

The Field Administrator of the Nigerian Mine Action Centre, a department of the Federal Ministry of Defence, Dr. Emeka Uhegbu, told newsmen shortly after removing the three unexploded bombs at the site, which is close to the 9th Mile area of Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, that if the unexploded bombs were not found and detonated, they could kill innocent people.

He maintained that over 50, 000 unexpended explosives were presently scattered across 12 states of the South-East, South-South and North-Central, warning that residents of the affected areas must be careful of such objects. The affected areas include all the states of the South-East and South-South zones and Benue and Nassarawa in North-Central zone of the country. He disclosed that following the discovery by the labourers, the anti-bomb unit of the Enugu State Police Command was alerted, who in turn informed the ministry leading to the removal of the bombs by their officials.

He noted that if the labourers had made mistake of hitting a hard object on the explosives, it had the capacity of killing thousands of people around the area, which was less than a kilometre to the country home of Governor Sullivan Chime. "We have our zonal office in Owerri with the responsibility of removing the explosive remnants of the civil war in 12 states; we have continued to remove some of these unexploded explosives since 2009. Not long ago, we equally removed bombs in Enugu and detonated them at the Ugwu-Onyeama area in the presence of Governor Chime represented by his deputy, the then minister of Defence, Shettimah, the police, soldiers and other security operatives.

"Today, we removed three from a construction site close to 9th Mile in Udi. We are not supposed to move about with it but we decided to come here to show it to newsmen and use the opportunity to ask our people to be vigilant because these objects are scattered across the states," Uhegbu said. while calling on residents of the affected states who mistakenly run into the objects in their farms, places of work, construction sites and churches to immediately report to the nearest police station to facilitate their removal.

"If you tamper with it, it could kill; the least it can do would be to maim you. We are appealing to our people that the war has ended but these things are still continuing the war. We are one in this country; we are going round removing them. "The United Nations compelled the country to de-mine the country after the civil war but the then head of state, Yakubu Gowon, did not de-militarise Nigeria, he merely asked people to go to work.

There ought to have been a deliberate measure to remove all these things so that our people could go to farm without running the risk of losing their lives. We've been asked to scan the land and remove them. We have facilities, scanners and locators, which we are using to know where these ordinances are located," he said.

How We Killed The General’s Daughter —Suspects

Two murder suspects who were paraded today by the Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, Echezona Nwabufor, 33, and Ezekiel Nnechuwu Olisa Eloka, 23, have narrated how they drugged the daughter of a retired General, Miss Cynthia Akuzogwu Udoka, 25, and strangled her in order to steal her money.
One of the suspects, Eloka, said they killed Cynthia because they thought she had a lot of money in her possession. But after the dastardly act, they did not find a reasonable amount of money on her.
According to the suspects, “we met her on the facebook on our Blackberry. We invited her to come to Lagos to buy goods at cheap prices.

“When she got to Lagos, we took her to a hotel in Festac. We thought she had a lot of money, but she said she didn’t have any money. We gave her Reflon tablet in her Ribena drink. After this, we slept with her for 12 hours in that hotel. We discovered that the tablet did not work quickly on her.
“We then attacked her, tied her up and used cellotape to cover her mouth. After that, we beat her to tell us where she kept the money.
“When we didn’t get any money from her, we tied her mouth and strangled her and then we abandoned her in the hotel and fled.”
The suspects and the General’s daughter became friends on Facebook and were exchanging messages and phone calls.
She told them she was coming to Lagos. They met her at Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja from where they ushered her into a hotel in Festac town, Lagos.
Briefing journalists on how policemen were able to arrest the suspects, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Abubakar Manko, said detectives made use of the close circuit television, CCTV, at the hotel where the crime was committed to identify them

The Area Commander, Area ‘E’ Police Command, ACP Okoro added that the suspects who are undergraduates of Nigerian universities were nabbed through the call logs of the telephone conversations they had with the late Cynthia who was a post graduate student of Nasarawa State University.
When the suspected killers strangled Cynthia, they deposited her corpse at the mortuary of Isolo General Hospital in Lagos.
ACP Okoro stated that many ATM cards, about 23 SIM cards, different identity cards were recovered from the suspects.
Police sources said the two suspects will soon be arraigned in court to answer a charge of murder.
Meanwhile, the late Cynthia’s best friend, Aishatu Ene Ella, has paid a glowing tribute to the deceased

Why P-Square sacked May D

This morning, the P-Square custodian, Jude Okoye, revealed that, May D , an artiste under their Square Records has been fired. If you don't know May D, well, he is the young artiste who featured in the hit song Chop my money, alongside P-Square and Akon.
From what we gather, May D had been going around telling people he actually owns the song and PSquare had hijacked the song from him. Well, looking at it, he sang two verses in the song while the both of PSquare took one. Below is the mail Jude circulated this morning
(Click read more for Jude's statement)


TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
I,JUDE ‘ENGEES’ OKOYE of Square Records Limited and Northside Entertainment Limited hereby announces to the general public that Mr. Akinmayokun Awodumila, otherwise known as MAY D is no longer an artiste under the aforementioned outfits due to irreconcilable differences.
We at Northside and Square records wish him all the best in his career and life.

Yours Faithfully

Signed:
Jude Engees Okoye.

Huge bombs seized in Maiduguri

Evil doers are at it again. But for God's intervention and commitment of security, the nation would have been in mourning maybe next Sunday. In Maiduguri, these explosives were seized. Experts say they could demolish 5 buildings with ease.

May D Denies Square Records Rift…Says Does Not Know What They Are Talking About

Just when we thought it couldn’t get any messier, it is about to as they say, get ugly! Earlier today we brought you a report of the alleged disengagement of May D from Square Records as signed by Jude ‘Engees’ Okoye, the older of the Psquare twins.
The artiste in the eye of the storm, May D, has come out to deny the story making the rounds as according to him, he is not aware of his sack. Speaking on phone to the NET and sounding unfazed over the latest development, he said, “I don’t know what they are talking about, you know I don’t stay in their house so how am I meant to know this?” when prodded further, May D retorted, “I don’t know, have a nice day”.

May D
Another round of controversy might just be brewing over this saga and we hope it doesn’t degenerate into a media/internet war as recently witnessed between two foremost industry giants. Whatever it is, can be settled amicably except the contract does not have a legal document binding it.
Keep your fingers crossed as we keep you updated

Clifford Orji dies in prison

The story of Clifford Orji is a long one but let me try to summarize it. Clifford Orji was arrested in February 1999 by the police under the bridge at Toyota Bus Stop along the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway in Lagos after passers-by noticed his strange activities under the bridge. Items found on him at the time of his arrest was a cheque for the sum of N88,000, a cell phone, women underwear and fresh and roast human flesh and bones.
 He had roasted one of his victims at the time and eaten part of her flesh. The police believed Clifford was mad at the time he was arrested but there was a theory back then that his madness was fake; that ritualists put him under that bridge to act like he was mad, find victims, kill them and sell their body parts to them. Thus the cheque that was found on him. His arrest in 1999 was widely celebrated in the media.

 Anyway, after 13 years in prison, Clifford Orji, who went completely mad in prison, has died. He died on Friday August 17th in his sleep. He was 46 years old.