County DA: No victims could have been saved

A faster response by emergency officials to the attack at an immigrant services center in Binghamton would have saved no lives, a county prosecutor said Sunday.

Authorities investigating Friday’s massacre at the American Civic Association have faced questions about the speed and manner of the response to the attack, in which a gunman killed 13 people and then himself.

Survivors reported huddling for hours in a basement, not knowing whether they were still in danger.

“We can definitely say no one was shot after the police arrival,” said Broome County District Attorney Gerald F. Mollen.

“Nobody could have been saved if the police walked in the door that first minute,” he said.

Police Chief Joseph Zikuski said police received several 911 calls in broken English even before a wounded receptionist called police to report a gunman was in the building.

He said a review of calls shows police officers were at the scene five minutes before the receptionist’s call. Police had earlier reported that it was that call which brought police to the immigration center.

A SWAT team entered the building at 11:13 a.m. Friday, 43 minutes after the first call to police.

Zikuski said the gunman, 41-year-old Jiverly Wong, had recently visited a firing range weekly but that authorities still don’t know his motive.

Authorities don’t know whether he had a particular target, and Zikuski said the choice of targets might have even been random.