Results tagged “binghamton”

If there is any way to garner more sympathy and further prove yourself an unfair victim for the monstrous college athlete who put you into a coma after a bar fight eleven months ago, it's ending your first press conference by tossing up the Vulcan salute. Today was the first public appearance by Bryan Steinhauer, the 22-year-old Brooklyn native who was brutally beaten by his Binghamton classmate Miladin Kovacevic, the Serbian basketball player nearly twice his size. The Daily News describes his words as "emerging slowly and heavily slurred," as seen in the video below from MyFoxNY.

Yesterday, upstate news station News 10 in Syracuse that it received a package from Binghamton massacre gunman Jiverly Wong containing a rambling letter (it begins with "I am Jiverly Wong shooting the people"), his driver's license, and photos of himself posing with guns. The Daily News describes Wong's writing as a "litany of paranoid complaints" including claims that police were monitoring him, "touched him while he slept" and stole his wallet. Wong killed himself after fatally shooting 13 and wounding many others. NYU assistant professor of psychiatry Dr. Vatsal Thakkar tells the Post, "The letter sounds bizarre and has tones of persecution. And in his internal world, this violence might have been some sort of retaliation. Put these actions and the theme of the letter all together, and it could point to major mental illness, quite possibly paranoid schizophrenia." Why Wong decided to kill fellow immigrants who were learning English and staff at the American Civic Association is unclear, but the police are checking the Internet as well as victims' biographies to see if there are any further clues.

As relatives started to bid farewell and bury victims of the Friday massacre at a Binghamton, NY civic center, the authorities have been on the defensive about how police responded to the shooting.

The thirteen people killed at the American Civic Association during Friday's violent rampage were identified by the Binghamton, NY police. Most were immigrants—four from China, two from Haiti, and one each from the Philippines, Iraq, Pakistan, Vietnam and Brazil—while two were Americans, a receptionist and teacher. Reports about the shooter, Jiverly Wong, so far suggest a troubled and frustrated man who had a cocaine addiction, apparently planned a bank robbery to support his habit and a failed marriage in California. Wong, who immigrated from Vietnam in the 1990s, was also unhappy with his recent low-paying job at a Shop-Vac plant; a former colleague told the Post that Wong often said he visited shooting ranges on the weekend, "He liked shooting guns. I was worried he would come into work one day, get angry and shoot us all," (apparently he frequently bought and exchanged guns at a local store). Another ex-colleague said workers made fun of Wong, "Sometimes they picked on him a little bit. They would say, 'It's wrong, it's Wong, it's wrong, it's Wong.'" And Wong had attended English classes at the ACA, but dropped out; police say he was wearing body armor when he stormed into the school.

       

Yesterday, a gunman stormed into a Binghamton, NY immigrant community center, taking employees and students hostage, ultimately killing 13. The gunman, believed to be Vietnamese immigrant Jiverly Voong (or Jiverly Wong), killed himself in the bloodshed that also left dozens wounded at the American Civic Association.

A shooter, who apparently has a "high-powered rifle," has shot at least four people and taken many others hostage at about 10:30 a.m. in Binghamton, NY. According to the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, the situation is occurring at the American Civic Association: "About 40 hostages were in the building -- 15 in a closet and 26 in the boiler room. Shortly after noon, about 10 people were released from the building, with hands on their heads. The police searched some of them. Around 12:40 p.m., another 10 were released from the rear of the building, clad in white sheets." On its website, the ACA says it "Assists immigrants and refugees with immigration and personal counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification, interpreters, and translators. Fosters cross cultural understanding for the entire community." The victims' conditions are not immediately known.

The clock is ticking on the arduous journey of bringing fled Serbian Miladin Kovacevic to justice for the alleged brutal beating of fellow Binghamton student Bryan Steinhauer last year. Serbian officials claim that Brooklyn-born Steinhauer must testify this Thursday or else Kovacevic may walk free. The Serbian athlete's lawyer told the Post, "If there is no examination of witnesses, how can there be a case?" But Steinhauer's lawyer says that he received no notice of the January 15th deadline. With reports of Steinhauer's failing health including brain damage, the Post questions whether the 22-year-old would even be up for testifying via video link. As for Kovacevic, after being let out of prison recently, he has defended himself to the Serbian press as the real victim claiming, the 5'6", 135-pound Steinhauer "was very aggressive. He kept thumping his chest and saying, 'You don't know who I am!' At one point, I managed to free myself from him." Kovacevic, 6'9" and 260 pounds also brags he was a model student, "I was one of a handful of foreigners who helped American children with special needs."

After being detained for almost two months, Milan Kovacevic was released from prison in his native Serbia as the investigation continues on charges that Kovacevic brutally beat fellow Binghamton University student Bryan Steinhauer of Brooklyn earlier this year. With still no plans to extradite Kovacevic despite pleas from Senators Schumer and Clinton to have him tried in the US, Serbian officials said that Kovacevic is not a flight risk while in his home country. The international affair initially broke out last spring when the former Binghamton basketball player fled the US following the incident with Steinhauer. “I am a citizen of Serbia and I will always respond to any calls by the authorities,” Kovacevic said yesterday. There has been no word on the progress of the investigation since Steinhauer and others were invited to testify via video link.

The case of Miladin Kovacevic does not appear to be heading toward the ultimate payoff many had hoped for--seeing him tried and sentenced here in the US. Kovacevic is the Serbian basketball player who was detained in his home country this week after what has been an incredibly drawn out six months of Americans attempting to bring him to justice after his brutal beating of a fellow SUNY Binghamton student. A Serbian judge has said that Kovacevic will be detained for at least 30 days there while they decide what, if any, charges will be made against him. But their interior minister says that doesn't mean that Serbian officials are willing to bend on the country's strict no-extraditing policy. The Steinhauers released a statement earlier this week acknowledging that “justice is taking its course,” but would not comment on Bryan Steinhauer’s condition.

The AP reports that Miladin Kovacevic has been arrested in Belgrade today. Kovacevic was involved in a beating at Binghamton University that left a fellow student brutally beaten. Though charged, Kovacevic managed to flee U.S. with the help of the Serbian vice consul gneral, who posted his $100,000 cash bail and provided an emergency passport. Which then caused tense relations between the U.S. and Serbia, as the victim, Brooklyn resident Bryan Steinhauer, remained in a coma and Kovacevic made plans to join a Serbian basketball club. Kovacevic, who has maintained his innocence, had explained his escape, "My client told me that he did not flee to hide from justice, but because he doesn't believe in the American justice system." It's unclear what charges he'd being held on; the former vice consul has also been arrested.

A lawyer for Miladin Kovacevic says that the 6'9" 260 lb. basketball player doesn't trust the U.S. legal system and was taunted and tortured by inmates and guards after he was arrested for allegedly beating a 135 lb. college senior into a coma in Binghamton last month. Veselin Cerovic explained that's why Kovacevic jumped bail and fled the country with an emergency passport issued by the Serbian consulate in New York, "My client told me that he did not flee to hide from justice, but because he doesn't believe in the American justice system."

Anders Uwadinobi, a freshman from the Bronx, was "play" fighting with a friend in a dorm room at SUNY Binghamton when he suffered fatal injuries Sunday night. An autopsy is being conducted, but a student who witnessed the situation when he heard screams to call 911 said he saw Uwadinobi "shaking" and seizing. The 18-year-old was pronounced dead on arrival at Wilson Memorial Regional Medical Center. The student told the Post, "They were playing around....