- Is he just a crazy new yorker, or was he on to something?*
** SOURCE Daily Jang: Urdu News - Latest Breaking News update Pakistan - jang.com.pk **
Man fires shots outside UN
UNITED NATIONS: A man fired at least five shots in the air in front of United Nations headquarters on Thursday, striking the building at least twice but causing no injuries, eyewitnesses and UN security officials said.
The man was in the custody of the UN Security and Safety Service and there was no immediate information on why he had fired the shots. “There was a man firing into the air. He fired several shots, then threw his gun down, and was grabbed by UN security guards,” said UN spokeswoman Nanci St John, who watched the incident from her third-floor office. The man, who appeared to be Asian, fired his gun while standing on the broad circular driveway infront of the landmark UN Secretariat building on Manhattan’s East Side, eyewitnesses said.
Before firing, he threw some papers into the air, which dealt with North Korea, they said. The 38-storey building houses the 15-nation Security Council and offices for thousands of UN staff as well as Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The shooting occurred as the Security Council was discussing arrangements for sending weapons inspectors’ back to Iraq after a four-year absence.
Eyewitnesses said the man fired five to seven shots. At least two of the shots hit the Secretariat building, striking the 18th and 20th floors, security officials said. “An incident has occurred in front of the UN Secretariat building,” the UN security office announced.
“A number of shots were fired by a male who jumped the fence into the Secretariat circle from First Avenue. No one was injured,” it said and added “UN security personnel are conducting a floor-to-floor search.”
The gunman put up no resistance as security agents ran toward him guns drawn. The first agents to reach him were officers from the US State Department diplomatic security service, eyewitnesses said. The US agents were standing by in the compound because of talks Annan was hosting on Thursday on divided Cyprus.