On February 23, 1997, Ali Hassan Abu Kamal, a 69 year-old Palestinian teacher, opened fire on the observation deck of the Empire State Building. The gunman killed one person and wounded six others before taking his own life with a gunshot to the head.

Law enforcement officials ruled it was a premeditated attack after finding notes indicating anger over Palestine and Israel. At the time, Abu Kamal's widow stated the shooting spree was not politically motivated, but rooted in his despondency over financial ruin.

Ten years after the shooting, Abu Kamal's daughter revealed that she had lied in hiding that her father's actions had in fact been motivated by Palestinian nationalism. Her mother's 1997 account was a cover story fabricated by the Palestinian Authority as Abu Kamal sought revenge against the Americans, the British, and the French for supporting Israel.

Shooting

Abu Kamal opened fire shortly after 5 p.m. on February 23, 1997 on the 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building, one of New York City's most popular tourist attractions. Before he started shooting, he muttered something about Egypt, apparently shouting, "Are you from Egypt?" The NYPD said they did not know whether it was said in an effort to spare or identify potential victims.

The shooter used a .380-caliber Beretta handgun that he apparently bought in Florida at the end of January 1997. Abu Kamal killed one person and wounded another six before shooting himself in the head. He was taken to a hospital where he died five hours later.

The sole murder victim was 27 year-old Christoffer Burmeister, a Danish musician who was living in New York and played in a band. He was visiting the Empire State Building with band mate Matthew Gross, who was critically wounded in the attack.

Suspect

The shooter Ali Hassan Abu Kamal was a 69 year-old Palestinian English teacher. He was born in Jaffa in Mandate Palestine on September 19, 1927. He was the son of a refugee family that fled the city during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and resettled in Gaza. He became a well-respected English teacher at a local high school and a university, and he was also a well-paid tutor and accomplished translator. He earned about $3,000 a month and lived in an affluent neighborhood with his wife, and had six children.

In 1996, after 50 years of teaching, he decided his family should relocate to the United States for a better life. He obtained a legal nonimmigrant visa and arrived in New York on Christmas Eve, 1996.

Motive

According to law enforcement officials, Abu Kamal's attack was premeditated, based on his visit to the observation deck the day before the shooting. A pair of identical letters, one in English and one in Arabic, was also found in a pouch around his neck. The letters were a diatribe against the "Big Three" of the United States, France and England for their mistreatment of Palestinians, as well as against Zionism, which he said oppressed Palestinians.

Despite the letter's reference to Palestine and Zionists, Abu Kamal's widow offered another explanation that the real motive for the shooting spree was not political, but rooted in financial ruin. The letter had also named two business partners, who Abu Kamal claimed swindled him out of money, losing $300,000 in a business venture. At that point, she said he became suicidal. His daughter added that he could not return home after losing the money. Fathiya Abu Kamal told the press:

"My husband is not a terrorist, he was just hopeless. He was aged, he had nothing to do with politics, or terrorism, or crime."

In February 2007, 10 years after the shooting, the New York Daily News reported that Abu Kamal's daughter, Linda, was "tired of lying" about her father's motives for the attack. She told the Daily News that her father wanted to punish the U.S. for supporting Israel and revealed that her mother's 1997 account was a cover story fabricated by the Palestinian Authority:

"A Palestinian Authority official advised us to say the attack was not for political reasons because that would harm the peace agreement with Israel. We didn't know that he was martyred for patriotic motivations, so we repeated what we were told to do... His goal was patriotic. He wanted to take revenge from the Americans, the British, the French and the Israelis... He wrote that after he raised his children and made sure that his family was all right he decided to avenge in the highest building in America to make sure they get his message".

Wikipedia.org

Gunman shoots 7, kills self at Empire State Building

'A popping noise,' then bloodshed, bedlam

CNN.com

February 24, 1997

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A man opened fire Sunday on an observation deck of the Empire State Building, killing one person and wounding six before shooting himself in the head, authorities said.

The gunman, a 69-year-old Palestinian, was taken to a hospital where he died more than five hours later, according to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's press office.

The man muttered something about Egypt seconds before he began shooting shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday on the 86th floor observation deck of one of the world's best-known tourist sites, witnesses said.

Ali Abu Kamal used a .380-caliber Beretta handgun that he apparently bought in Florida at the end of January, Giuliani said.

"I heard a loud popping noise," said French tourist Jean-Luec Will, 40. "I thought at first it was a little child playing with fireworks."

Finally sensing danger, Will, 40, his wife and two young sons -- one wearing a red Chicago Bulls cap -- dove to the floor. Other people nearly trampled each other while dashing for exits, said David Robinson, 35, a British tourist who had arrived in the city only two hours earlier.

"Everyone started running," Robinson said. "Everybody was panicked."

On the opposite side of the deck, Gerard Guntner, 43, and George McHenry, 52, both maintenance workers from Jersey City, New Jersey, were shooting video of the view of their home state. Drawn by the commotion, Guntner stumbled across a man with a bullet wound in the head. He instinctively began cradling him.

"He was coughing blood. ... I just said, 'Hang in there,'" Guntner said. Guntner's hands shook as he smoked a cigarette while recounting the experience.

McHenry, meanwhile, videotaped what he described as "five bodies" strewn about the deck -- footage the police later confiscated. "I don't know why I took those pictures, believe me," McHenry said. "I don't know if it did any good or not."

Belgian businessman Stef Nys, 36, recalled hearing a final shot and turning in time to see the gunman slumping to the floor, his dentures out of his mouth.

Witnesses said the gunman shouted, "Are you from Egypt?" during the shooting, according to law enforcement sources. Police said they did not know whether it was said in an effort to spare or identify potential victims.

His passport said he was from Ramallah, on the West Bank, and entered the United States on Christmas Eve, Giuliani said.

The other dead man was a 27-year-old Danish musician visiting the Empire State Building with an American friend from Connecticut, Matthew Gross, 27, who was also wounded, according to Giuliani.

The others wounded included a French couple from Verdun, whose 16-year-old daughter escaped injury; a 30-year-old Swiss man; an Argentinian man, 52; and a man from the Bronx. One of the wounded men was shot in the head, while others were less seriously hurt.

Two children were hurt when they were knocked from parents' arms and four women suffered minor injuries in the rush to the exit.

Nys said he had gone to the Empire State Building "to try to relax myself a little bit." He left a shaken man.

"I've never seen so much blood in my life," he said.

The Empire State Building is one of the world's most admired skyscrapers. The 102-story skyscraper opened in 1931 and reigned for decades as the world's tallest until 1972.

Building officials planned to review security procedures, though a spokesman defended the building's lack of metal detectors or bag searches and called its security "superb."

Leona Helmsley, whose real estate company manages the Empire State Building, said the firm would pay for families of victims to be flown to New York.

"We will do everything possible to lighten their burden during this terrible time," Helmsley said through Rubenstein.

CNN Correspondent Peg Tyre contributed to this report.

Killer's daughter admits it was political

By Mahmoud Habboush - NYDailyNews.com

February 20, 2007

GAZA CITY - Ali Abu Kamal's relatives say they are tired of lying about why the Palestinian opened fire on the observation deck of Empire State Building, killing a tourist and injuring six other people before committing suicide.

Kamal's widow insisted after the shooting spree that the attack was not politically motivated. She said that her husband had become suicidal after losing $300,000 in a business venture.

But in a stunning admission, Kamal's 48-year-old daughter Linda told the Daily News that her dad wanted to punish the U.S. for supporting Israel - and revealed her mom's 1997 account was a cover story crafted by the Palestinian Authority.

"A Palestinian Authority official advised us to say the attack was not for political reasons because that would harm the peace agreement with Israel," she told The News on Friday. "We didn't know that he was martyred for patriotic motivations, so we repeated what we were told to do."

But three days after the shootings, Kamal's family got a copy of a letter that was found on his body, they said. The letter said he planned the violence as a political statement, his daughter said.

"When we wanted to clarify that to the media, nobody listened to us," she said. "His goal was patriotic. He wanted to take revenge from the Americans, the British, the French and the Israelis."

She said the family became certain that he carried out the attack for political reasons after reading his diary.

"He wrote that after he raised his children and made sure that his family was all right he decided to avenge in the highest building in America to make sure they get his message," said Linda, who works for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

She said her mom burned the diary, fearing that it would cause the family trouble.