Report says 13 dead in NY state shooting

ABC News, citing federal and state authorities, said 26 others were wounded and that a number of people were still being held hostage.

Other local media reported between four and 13 dead in the incident. Binghamton, about 150 miles northwest of New York City, has a population of about 45,000.

Two men were taken from the scene in handcuffs, News 10 Now television reported.

The area was surrounded by police with rifles, some carrying shields. A crowd gathered beyond the police line cheered when the two were taken away and placed in a police car, News 10 Now said.

The two men taken away were Asian, Bob Joseph, the news director for WNBF radio, said in an interview with CNN.

As many as 41 people were inside the building when a man entered and started shooting, WBNG television news said, citing police scanners. It said some fled to a basement and more than a dozen were hiding in a closet, adding that emergency dispatchers had been in contact with people inside.

Four people were removed from the American Civic Association building on stretchers and taken to hospitals, the Press & Sun-Bulletin newspaper reported on its website.

"About 15 or so employees of the Civic Association came out crying with their hands behind their heads and they were escorted by the police and they took them to ambulances and took them away," a witness told WNBF radio. "Quite a few people got out but I hear there's more (inside)," she said.

The American Civic Association building is used to teach English and provide other services to recently immigrants to the United States who are preparing for U.S. citizenship.

Authorities requested a Vietnamese translator to speak with the shooter, according to the witness interviewed by WNBF.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta, Claudia Parsons, Joan Gralla and Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by David Storey)