Police are trying to determine what happened during their chaotic confrontation with the gunman, which lasted just eight seconds. There was chaos in the aftermath as bystanders were sent scrambling.
Construction worker Onner Camacho was laying stone during the morning rush hour right outside the landmark building when he heard gunshots and started running after police.
Multiple people shot near Empire State Building
"It was amazing," he says. "I've never seen anything like this in my life. All of a sudden - just shooting. Bam bam bam."
When it was over, the gunman lay dead.
Also dead, Steve Ercolino, his former colleague at Hazan Import Corp.
"During a downsizing at the company a year ago, Johnson was laid off," New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told reporters. "In a dispute with one of the former employees of Hazan in front of the building, Johnson produced a pistol and fired at close range, striking his 41 year old victim in the head."
Nine bystanders were wounded. What's not clear is whether they were shot by the gunman or police trying to bring him down.
A law enforcement source tells CBS News Johnson blamed Ercolino for not supporting his work while he was at the company. And earlier this year, both men had filed harassment complaints with police -- against each other.
While streets were blocked off around the Empire State Building Friday - it's one of New York's biggest tourist attractions - it never shut down, and was open to visitors as usual Saturday.
[(CBS News) NEW YORK]
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