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NY1 At 20: 1997 Report Covers Gunman's Rampage High Atop Empire State Building
Updated: 02/23/2012 10:28 AM
By: Jeanine Ramirez

NY1 VIDEO: As NY1 News revisits its 20-year history, the station looks back at reporter Jeanine Ramirez's February 23, 1997 story on a gunman who opened fired on the observation deck of the Empire State Building, killing one person and injuring six others, before turning the gun on himself.



NY1 FOLLOW-UP: Abu Kamal died of his wounds but it's believed he was motivated at least in part by anger over the treatment of Palestinians. Among the people shot that day were two members of a band. Guitar player Chris Burmeister did not survive. Matthew Gross, the singer, did. He was shot in the head and was in a coma for nearly a week. Today, he works at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, doing maintenance work. While he's come a long way in his recovery, he acknowledges that life will never what it was before the shooting. After the shooting, Matthew's brother Dan became an advocate for stricter gun control laws. He was recently made the President for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

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