Aug 24, 2012 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard

Headline Photo: Dead purse designer Jeffrey Johnson

Update: Early reports are that caliber of bullets removed from hospitalized victims, plus statements that after shooter shot boss, cops “returned fire and killed him” indicate that most or all victims besides boss were
shot by cops, not shooter…developing…

Update: Shooter was a designer of ladies handbag, dispute was between him and his boss who had fired him.. Fox News: A laid-off store worker returned to his old job near the Empire State Building and opened fire Friday on a former coworker, killing the employee and injuring several others.

Authorities said that the gunman, identified as 53-year-old Jeffrey Johnson, shot the ex-coworker at close range at a store near the landmark building in Manhattan. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said nine others were also shot, some by the perpetrator and “some may have been shot accidentally by police officers.”

The gunman was shot and killed by police, he said. His former coworker, whose name was not released, died from gunshots to his head.

Bloomberg said Johnson was laid off about a year ago from Hazan Imports, a women’s accessories store located near the Empire State Building.

Bloomberg and New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said nine people were wounded or grazed by gunfire in Friday morning’s shooting but are expected to survive.

A security guard near the scene said he heard seven or eights shots fired in the shooting, which began at 10 West 33rd Street.

“I heard gun shots and people started running,” said witness Jacque Boothby. “I looked around and people were just laying on the streets.”

Rebecca Fox, 27, said she saw people running down the street and initially thought it was a celebrity sighting, but then saw a woman shot in the foot and a man dead on the ground.

“I was scared and shocked and literally shaking,” she said. She said police seemed to appear in seconds. “It was like CSI, but it was real.”

Some of the victims were transported to Bellevue Hospital, while others were taken to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

The FBI confirmed to FoxNews.com that they were on the scene investigating.

About 4 million people visit the landmark skyscraper’s observation decks every year — an average of about 11,000 per day.

In 1997, a gunman opened fire on the 86th floor observation deck, killing one tourist and wounding six others before fatally shooting himself.