Letter reveals motivation behind N.Y. shooting
Issue date: 4/8/09 Section: News
1 BINGHAMTON, N.Y. (AP) - Suspected gunman Jiverly Wong felt tormented by police. They snuck into his room and touched him while he was sleeping, he thought. They stole $20 from his wallet. Because of them, he lost his job. Because of them, he was poor and his life was a mess.
In a rambling, disjointed letter sent to a TV news station, the man who would walk into an immigrant center and gun down 13 people before killing himself blamed his troubles on the police and vowed to take at least two people "to return to the dust of earth."
In the letter, received Monday by News 10 Now in Syracuse, the writer also complains of shoddy treatment by the state unemployment system after he lost his job assembling vacuum cleaners.
Authorities did not immediately say Monday if they had verified the letter's authenticity, but city officials were reviewing it as evidence in the investigation.
Seeking fresh start with Muslim world, Obama ends Turkish visit in talk with students
2 ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - In a humble finish to his first foreign trip, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that despite its flaws and imperfections the United States is poised for a "new chapter in American engagement" with Muslims and the rest of the world.
Addressing college students in Turkey's largest city, Obama rejected the stereotype that America is selfish and crass. "I'm here to tell you that's not the country I know and not the country I love," the president said. "America, like every other nation, has made mistakes and has its flaws, but for more than two centuries it has strived" to seek a more perfect union.
Obama made those opening remarks before taking questions, telling students he'd keep the session short because of the Muslim call to prayer. Obama repeated his pledge to rebuild relations between the United States and the Muslim world.
"I am personally committed to a new chapter in American engagement," he said. "We can't afford to talk past one another and focus only on our differences, or to let the walls of mistrust go up around us."
In a rambling, disjointed letter sent to a TV news station, the man who would walk into an immigrant center and gun down 13 people before killing himself blamed his troubles on the police and vowed to take at least two people "to return to the dust of earth."
In the letter, received Monday by News 10 Now in Syracuse, the writer also complains of shoddy treatment by the state unemployment system after he lost his job assembling vacuum cleaners.
Authorities did not immediately say Monday if they had verified the letter's authenticity, but city officials were reviewing it as evidence in the investigation.
Seeking fresh start with Muslim world, Obama ends Turkish visit in talk with students
2 ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - In a humble finish to his first foreign trip, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that despite its flaws and imperfections the United States is poised for a "new chapter in American engagement" with Muslims and the rest of the world.
Addressing college students in Turkey's largest city, Obama rejected the stereotype that America is selfish and crass. "I'm here to tell you that's not the country I know and not the country I love," the president said. "America, like every other nation, has made mistakes and has its flaws, but for more than two centuries it has strived" to seek a more perfect union.
Obama made those opening remarks before taking questions, telling students he'd keep the session short because of the Muslim call to prayer. Obama repeated his pledge to rebuild relations between the United States and the Muslim world.
"I am personally committed to a new chapter in American engagement," he said. "We can't afford to talk past one another and focus only on our differences, or to let the walls of mistrust go up around us."
Be the first to comment on this story