Binghamton shooter mailed letter, license to Syracuse TV station
Friday’s shooting in downtown Binghamton took place 66 miles south of Syracuse. But Monday, the tragedy hit even closer to home when News 10 Now general manager Ron Lombard discovered a letter mailed from the shooter, to the Erie Boulevard news station.
Jiverly Wong killed 13 people and critically injured four in the American Civic Association Friday, before turning the gun on himself.
Lombard was walking past the reception area on the second floor of the building Monday around 11 a.m. when he noticed mail sticking out of the bin. He said he grabbed the mail, began flipping through it and discovered a white envelope with a return address of Johnson City, N.Y. and the name J. Wong. It was postmarked Friday, the day of the shooting.
‘I knew what it was when I saw it, just from the outside,’ he said. ‘I told myself, ‘This can’t be the real thing.”
Lombard, who graduated from Syracuse University in 1981, felt the envelope and realized it contained other materials. He debated whether or not to look inside for 15 to 20 minutes with colleagues and station managers, before tearing it open.
Inside, Lombard found a pistol permit, an original driver’s license, a letter and three photos of Wong posing with a gun.
The two-page, handwritten letter begins, ‘I am Jiverly Wong shooting the people.’ It continues in a disorganized rant that accuses police of tormenting him and making fun of his bad English.
While the police have not officially confirmed it was Wong who sent the letter, Binghamton police chief Joseph Zikuski said Tuesday in a press conference that authorities had no reason to believe otherwise.
Lombard said he tried to keep the news relatively quiet and waited until the documents were safely turned over to authorities before breaking the story around 5 p.m. Monday.
As for why the shooter would mail the letter to Syracuse, Lombard said he doesn’t know for sure.
‘It’s possible we were just the station that he watched,’ he said.
News 10 Now has a separate feed that goes to Binghamton and the Elmira area. Everything is managed out of Syracuse, though some staff and news reporters are located in Binghamton.
SU alumni Allison Lazarz and Aaron Goldstein also work at the station, but declined comment.
Published on April 7, 2009 at 12:00 pm
